iRATURE 


• 


• 


• 


- 


* 

LETTERS    FROM    AN    UITLANDER 


? 

• 

LETTERS    FROM 
AN   UITLANDER 

1899  -  1902 


WITH     INTRODUCTION     BY 

• 

MAJOR   SIR   BARTLE   FRERE,   BAET.,   D.S.O. 


LONDON 

JOHN   MURRAY,   ALBEMARLE   STREET 
1903 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION     ..... 
LETTERS  FROM  THE  TRANSVAAL          .          .          .         14 
LETTERS  FROM  CAPE  TOWN      .          .          .          .19 
THE  RACE  QUESTION      .....         44 

QUESTION  OF  THE  SUSPENSION  OF  THE  CAPE  CON- 
STITUTION     ......         50 

LETTERS  FROM  THE  TRANSVAAL  AGAIN         .          .         90 
BRITISH  TRADE    ......       103 

IN  RE  NATIVE  QUESTION          .          .          .          .108 

SUSPENSION  OF  CAPE  CONSTITUTION  .          .          .       117 
SHIPPING  RING    ......       164 


22002E 


LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER* 

INTRODUCTION 

THERE  seems  no  need  to  say  very  much  in 
introducing  these  letters  to  the  public.  They 
were  written  to  me,  in  regular  succession, 
from  a  date  shortly  before  the  war  broke  out. 

They  make,  it  is  obvious,  no  pretension  to 
careful  literary  composition,  and  any  attempt 
by  their  writer,  or  others,  to  have  " edited" 
them  with  any  completeness,  would  have 
necessitated  the  whole  thing  being  re  -  cast, 
and  would  also  have  taken  away  from  their 
fresh  colloquial  style. 

The  writer  is  a  man  who  has  long  been 
resident  in  South  Africa,  and  has  held  more 
the  position  of  onlooker  than  of  participator, 
in  its  political  and  commercial  affairs.  He 
is  not  connected  with  gold  mining,  he  has 
carefully  watched  events,  and  he  is  an  honest 
English  gentleman.  More  I  am  not  at  liberty 
to  divulge,  but  this  I  am  willing  to  vouch  for. 

*  Pronounce  as  in  English  word  "Eight." 

A 


2  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

Beyond  this  I  will  not  attempt  to  add 
much,  nor  enlarge  at  any  length  regarding 
the  South  African  question.  There  is  indeed 
much  to  be  said,  but  Heaven  has  happily 
provided  us  with  plenty  of  people  to  say  it ! 
I  might,  however,  add  just  one  word  or  two. 

What  South  Africa  needs  above  all  now  is 
Permanent  Peace,  to  enable  its  inhabitants 
to  work  out  harmoniously  what  ought  to  be 
their  very  great  and  important  destinies. 

Yet  how  strangely  do  these  words  "  Perma- 
nent Peace"  and  "South  Africa"  look  in 
juxtaposition. 

Can  any  two  groups  of  ideas  seem  more 
remote  from  one  another?  For  how  many 
years  has  this  pot  been  seething,  what  precious 
lives  have  been  sacrificed,  in  divers  ways,  on 
the  hell-broth  that  has  there  been  brewed ! 

And  what  have  we  to  show  as  a  result  of 
our  clumsy  incantations  ? 

In  truth  the  South  African  question  is  only 
a  part  of  a  much  larger  scheme  of  ideas,  which 
—if  discord  is  ever  to  give  place  to  harmony  in 
that  and  other  regions  of  the  Empire — must 
be  considered  in  bulk,  and,  each  and  all,  treated 
on  simple  general  principles. 


INTRODUCTION  3 

It  may  be  claimed  at  the  outset  that  in 
an  Empire  constituted  as  ours  is,  the  man- 
in-the-street  in  Great  Britain  cannot  conduct 
the  politics  of  a  remote  portion  of  that  Empire. 
Indeed,  to  do  that  worthy  justice,  he  rarely 
wishes  seriously  to  attempt  it.  All  he  says 
is,  "  We  have  put  the  existing  Cabinet  in 
power,  and  I  look  to  its  members  to  dis- 
charge their  duty." 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  no  formula 
by  which  such  an  Empire  can  be  conducted. 
Our  peoples  cannot,  by  laying  down  a  string 
of  rules  and  regulations  which  are  to  be 
followed,  leave  it  to  experts  to  draw  up  a 
scheme  for  any  portion  of  the  community, 
and  then  themselves  go  to  sleep  again.  On 
the  contrary,  they  must  always  keep  awake. 
And  by  keeping  awake  I  do  not  mean  fuss- 
ing ;  but  I  mean,  choosing  in  the  first  place 
honest  and  reliable  managers  for  the  Empire's 
affairs,  and  afterwards  intelligently  following 
the  action  of  these,  to  whom  have  been  handed 
the  responsibilities  of  the  concern,  and  keep- 
ing them  "up  to  the  mark " ;  realising  that 
eloquent  speeches  will  less  frequently  save  a 
country  than  honest  men. 

To    go    for    a    moment,    however,    a    little 


4  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

more    into    detail,    and    regard    the    present 
situation  at  the  Cape. 

"What,"  says  the  English  citizen,  "are 
we  to  do  with  the  Cape  irreconcilables  ? "  I 
would  reply — simply  carry  out  your  normal 
course  of  action.  If  you  hoist  the  political 
white  flag,  and  pamper  rebellion  now ;  you 
merely  betray  loyalty,  without  in  the  least 
conciliating  your  enemies.  And  remember, 
in  this  instance,  you  will  be  betraying  it 
for  the  last  time.  "Oh,  but,"  says  Mr  Wise- 
acre, "you  forget  that  you  have  got  to  live 
with  these  men."  I  would  say  rather — put  it 
the  other  way — they  have  to  live  with  us. 

Has  treason,  forsooth,  ceased  to  be  treason, 
because  Queen  Elizabeth  no  longer  holds  a 
sceptre,  and  orders  people's  heads  off?  Is 
there  no  longer  such  a  thing  as  High  Treason, 
now  that  a  ruling  Dynasty  has  wisely  com- 
mitted much  of  the  details  of  its  administra- 
tion to  the  representatives  of  a  Commonwealth  ? 
Is  there  no  treason  to  the  loyalists  in  all  parts 
of  the  Empire,  in  the  action  of  those  who 
foment  discord  in  one  particular  part  of  the 
Empire  ? 

It  is  because  leisured  observers,  such  as 
the  writer  of  these  letters,  are  especially  rare 


INTRODUCTION  5 

in  South  Africa,  that  I  think  these  notes  on 
current  South  African  topics  may  be  of  great 
service  to  many  of  the  public,  in  estimating 
the  nature  of  the  problem  with  which  we 
are  there  confronted. 

By  his  showing,  and  by  all  knowledge  of 
informed,  and  unsophisticated,  men,  these  pro- 
blems are  perfectly  capable  of  solution,  but 
towards  that  solution  we  English  have  "no 
use "  (as  our  American  friends  say)  for  the 
rhetorician — the  place  hunter — the  man  who 
is  ignorant  of  his  subject  and  yet  attempts 
to  direct  us. 

Would  it  be  too  much  to  ask  of  such  persons 
when  they  aspire  to  lead  our  counsels  by  their 
words,  that  they  should  travel  in  the  regions 
they  propose  to  discourse  upon,  and  saturate 
themselves  with  the  information  which  can 
only  be  locally  acquired  ? 

All  who  have  watched  the  numbers  of 
honest  English,  and  Foreign,  men  and  women 
who  started  out  to  the  Cape  fervent  "pro- 
Boers,"  and  returned  with  completely  modi- 
fied views,  must  indeed  realise  how  impossible 
it  is  for  the  ordinary  resident  in  Europe, 
rightly  to  master  the  South  African  ques- 
tion. 


6  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

There  is  no  manner  of  doubt  that  the 
Transvaal  leaders,  and  the  Bond  leaders,  had 
elaborated  an  ideal  which  was  quite  incom- 
patible with  the  existence  of  the  British 
Empire.  Their  ideal  was,  "Away  with  the 
English  view  of  life  altogether ;  let  us,  as 
the  Dutch  race,  dominate  everybody  ! " 

On  the  other  hand,  the  idea  of  the  right 
feeling  Englishman,  when  he  speaks  of  his 
wish  that  our  flag  should  fly  from  Cape  Town 
to  the  Zambesi,  is  founded  upon  what  that 
flag  implies — equal  justice  and  freedom  for 
all — and  is  not  founded  upon  any  wish  that 
"  Rooineks,"  qua  Rooineks,  should  put  their 
heel  on  every  one  else's  head.  It  were  better 
that  that  honoured  flag  should  be  rolled  up  in 
South  Africa  and  buried  there,  than  that  so 
foolish  and  shallow  an  idea  as  this  last  should 
actuate  us ;  if  only  because  the  attempt  would 
certainly  fail,  and  bring  ruin  in  its  track  to 
all  that  we  most  honour  and  revere. 

Take,  as  a  typical  example  of  our  best 
methods,  the  admirably  organised  system  which 
has  been  inaugurated  for  the  education  of 
Boer  children,  since  many  thousands  of  them 
came  into  our  keeping.  The  result  of  that 
scheme,  as  regards  the  matters  here  referred 


INTRODUCTION  7 

to,  should  be  to  make  the  children  proud  of 
South  Africa,  as  a  part  of  the  Empire,  not  of 
being  "Dutch"  or  "  English." 

Our  object  in  these  regards  should  surely  be, 
as  in  "composite  photography,"  by  keeping 
the  characteristics  of  the  various  component 
races  it  contains,  to  produce  an  homogeneous 
Empire,  which  is  not  solely  English,  Scotch, 
Irish,  Welsh,  Boer,  Canadian,  or  Australian, 
but  shall  contain  the  most  vigorous  and 
useful  characteristics  of  each  group. 

One  word  more.  Truism  though  it  be,  it 
needs  constant  repetition — Party  government, 
when  carried  to  the  length  it  has  reached  with 
us  is  a  national  danger,  for  it  diverts  to  trum- 
pery local  wrangles,  attention  and  energy  which 
should  be  devoted  to  large  and  widespread 
interests ;  and  the  electors  of  Great  Britain 
should  recognise,  that  disappointed  politicians 
of  a  certain,  and,  alas,  not  uncommon,  type, 
are  frequently  really  desperate  men,  and  will 
stick  at  nothing  to  damage  whatever  party 
may  be  in  power.  Many  of  them  will  even 
intrigue  with  hostile  Boers,  or  with  discordant 
Irishmen,  with  perfect  impartiality — and  their 
words  should  be  valued  accordingly.  All  down 
the  ranges  of  history  we  may  note  the  "wire- 


8      LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

puller"  seeking  his  own  ends  by  exploiting 
honest  human  instincts. 

On  the  Native  question  these  letters  contain 
much  that  is  of  the  greatest  value. 

And  on  this  point  I  would  ask  any  of  my 
countrymen  in  England  who  may  come  across 
these  pages,  to  remember  one  thing.  The 
Englishman,  though  he  changes  his  skies 
most  readily,  does  not  at  all  readily  change 
his  nature :  and  that  generous  nature,  which 
inclines  him  to  befriend  the  weak  and  the 
oppressed  in  this  country,  does  not  desert  him 
when  he  migrates  to  the  Cape. 

Do  not  let  us  therefore  suppose,  because  the 
South  African  colonist  sees  the  vital  necessity 
of  (as  he  would  put  it)  "keeping  the  native  in 
his  place,"  that  he  has  formed  any  dark 
schemes  for  turning  the  Kaffirs  into  mine- 
slaves,  or  victims  of  a  tyrannical  oppres- 
sion. 

Reverting  to  the  main  argument,  I  hope 
that  no  reader  of  these  letters  will  think 
that  the  writer,  or  recipient,  have  any  dislike 
to  the  Dutch  as  Dutch,  or  to  the  Boers  as 
Boers.  Passages  constantly  occur  in  these 
letters,  indeed,  which  directly  controvert  such 
an  idea. 


INTRODUCTION  9 

And  for  my  own  part  I  would  say,  that  no 
one  who  remembers  the  Cape  in  the  old  days 
—with  the  delightful  highly  -  bred  Dutch 
society,  which  had  its  focus  in  Cape  Town  and 
the  neighbourhood ;  or  who  remembers  the 
simple  unaffected  hospitality,  which  all  who 
travelled  in  South  Africa  must  have  frequently 
experienced,  from  the  Cape  Dutch,  and  from 
the  Boers  all  over  the  land,  can  fail  to  have 
a  cordial  feeling  in  his  heart  for  both  of 
these — so  different — groups. 

But  let  it  be  none  the  less  remembered,  that 
a  hastily  patched  up  modus  Vivendi  between 
Briton  and  Boer  can  have  no  enduring  founda- 
tion. All  the  Empire,  and  the  rest  of  the 
world  too,  are  looking  on  at  events  which  are 
occurring  in  South  Africa,  brought  about 
and  necessitated  by  the  cumulative  poison  of 
political  folly. 

The  plain  fact,  which  appears  more  clearly 
now  that  the  dust  of  the  commotion  is  sett- 
ling down,  is  this ;  our  colonies  are  full,  not  of 
our  scum,  but  of  some  of  the  best  and  most 
vigorous  blood  of  our  race.  They  love  the 
Old  Country  (and  its  traditions  and  history, 
and  those  ideals  of  justice  and  freedom-for- 
all  which  the  mention  of  "  England,"  above 


10  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

that  of  all  countries,  raises  to  the  imagina- 
tion) with  apparently  a  much  firmer  love 
than  many  of  its  own  inhabitants.  They 
love  the  Crown,  the  Ruling  Family,  and  the 
Dynasty  generally.  They  hate  and  detest 
"  Downing  Street,"  or  rather  all  that  that 
sinister  phrase  formerly  conveyed  to  the 
Colonial  mind,  of  inaction,  interference,  and 
uncertainty. 

We  may  scarce  wonder  if  despair  of  any 
timely  action  at  home  bade  fair  to  convert 
the  Boer  Republic  of  the  Transvaal,  governed 
by  Kruger  and  his  Hollander  clique,  into  an 
"  English-cum- Boer- Progressive  "  Republic,  at 
least  so  far  as  the  Rand  was  concerned ;  and 
that  (such  tendency  being  countered  by  the 
events  culminating  in  "  the  Raid,"),  the  crisis 
hastened  on,  which  was  to  decide  if  Great 
Britain  meant  to  stand  by  her  position  in 
South  Africa,  or  to  let  the  various  conflicting 
forces  together  "eliminate  the  Imperial  factor." 

Fortunate  for  us  was  the  timely  conjunction 
of  a  Secretary  of  State  and  a  High  Commis- 
sioner, who  both  realised  the  position ;  and 
now  from  the  turmoil  is  emerging  an  Imperial 
policy,  which  promises  to  make  Downing 
Street  a  name  of  wholly  different  omen. 


INTRODUCTION  11 

The  question  arises,  How  are  we  now  going 
to  conduct  affairs  ? 

Not  as  of  old,  let  us  hope,  by  constant 
change  of  experiment,  nor  as  questions  of 
party  politics,  nor  by  the  attempt  to  control 
every  detail  from  6000  miles  away. 

It  is  evident  that  in  Lord  Milner  we  have 
been  so  fortunate  as  to  get — much  beyond 
our  deserts — a  man  most  richly  endowed  with 
capacity  and  honesty  of  purpose,  just  the 
man  that  we  want. 

And  to  him  and  his  likes,  in  the  future  of 
our  Empire,  we  must  entrust  more  and  more 
authority,  and  repose  in  them  the  greater  con- 
fidence, to  enable  them  to  assist  those  with 
whose  welfare  they  are  charged,  to  govern 
themselves  well,  and  in  harmony  with  the 
general  Empire  scheme ;  this,  notwithstanding 
that  some  in  the  Mother  Country  may  still 
share  the  dismay  of  the  hen,  who  sees  her 
duckling  charges  gradually  taking  to  the 
water,  and  showing  a  capacity  to  shift  for 
themselves.  And,  if  rightly  perceived,  it  will 
be  noted  that  this  should  lead  to  no  break 
up  of  the  Empire,  but  to  a  strengthening 
thereof. 

In  conclusion — the  "case"   of  South  Africa 


12  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

has  at  length  been  taken  in  hand  by  the 
greatest  specialists  we  have  :  two  of  whom, 
Mr  Chamberlain  and  Lord  Milner,  are  on  the 
spot :  health,  we  may  hope,  is  being  restored. 
By  all  means  let  us  watch  the  men  in  whom 
we  thus  confide,  but  let  us  not,  from  far  away, 
foolishly  or  needlessly  hamper  their  wise  and 
enlightened*  ministrations. 

BARTLE  C.  FRERE. 

22nd  December  1902. 


The  Lord  Chief  Justice,  in  the  course  of  his  charge  to  the  Grand 
Jury,  said,  "  .  .  .  The  crime  of  high  treason  was  one  of  the  highest, 
if  not  the  very  highest,  known  to  the  law.  As  far  back  as  the  year 
1351  the  Statute  .  .  .  was  passed,  and  that  Statute  had  been  the  law 
up  to  the  present  time.  The  language  of  that  Statute  was  as  apt  for 
the  purpose  of  dealing  with  the  offence  of  high  treason  to-day  as  it  was 
at  the  time  it  was  passed.  By  the  2 5th  of  Edward  III.,  c.  2,  it  was 
recited  : — '  Whereas  divers  opinions  have  been  before  this  time  in  what 
case  treason  shall  be  said  and  in  what  not,  the  King,  at  the  request  of 
the  Lords  and  of  the  Commons,  hath  made  a  declaration  in  the  manner 
as  hereafter  followeth — that  is  to  say,  when  a  man  doth  compass  or 
imagine  the  death  of  our  Lord  the  King,  or  of  our  Lady  the  Queen,  or 
of  their  eldest  son  and  heir,  .  .  .  or  if  a  man  do  levy  war  against 
our  Lord  the  King  in  his  realm,  or  be  adherent  to  the  King's  enemies 
in  his  realm,  giving  to  them  aid  and  comfort  in  the  realm  or  elsewhere, 
and  thereof  be  provably  attainted  of  open  deed  by  the  people  of  their 
condition' — then  in  that  case  such  person  should  be  attainted  and 
guilty  of  high  treason." 

The  Times,  December  20,  1902. 


"  Je  serais  content  de  la  liberte  qui  inspire  les  genies  anglais,  si  la 
passion  et  1'esprit  de  parti  ne  corrompaient  pas  tout  ce  que  cette 
pre"cieuse  liberte  a  d'estimable." 

VOLTAIRE  (Candide). 


LETTERS    FROM   THE   TRANSVAAL 

z^th  June  1899. 

I  employ  Greek  characters*  because  I  find  it 
so  impossible  to  disguise  handwriting,  and  no 
letter  or  telegram  is  safe  from  inspection  ;  so 
common  report  says. 

Is  the  British  Government  aware  that  in 
South  Africa  it  has  to  face  the  greatest  con- 
spiracy of  our  times  ? 

The  position  is  grave  beyond  all  precedent 
— to  "let  things  slide"  is  fatal. 

Thousands  throughout  the  country  are 
utterly  weary  of  nominal  Imperialism — and 
openly  discuss  making  common  cause  with 
the  Dutch  Bond  party,  in  utter  despair  of 
England  doing  anything. 

In  this  "grave  of  great  reputations,"  men 
say  that  Sir  A.  Milner  is  fated  to  be  dis- 
credited and  dropped  by  the  Government  like 
the  few  other  able  statesmen  we  have  seen  here. 

*  The  first  two  of  these  letters,  which  were  sent  from 
the  Transvaal,  were  written  in  Greek  characters. 


A  WARNING  15 

Secret  meetings  at  Field  Cornetcies  are 
being  held  all  over  South  Africa,  and  no 
doubt  the  plot  is  fast  ripening. 

The  arch  traitor  (—  — )  in  Cape  Colony 
would  give  the  order  for  rebellion  to-morrow, 
but  the  more  timid  conspirators,  some  of 
whom  are  in  high  place  there,  are  halting ; 
their  ally,  P.  Kruger,  feels  that  his  crisis  is 
at  hand. 

By  hesitation,  England  is  fostering  rebellion 
at  hot-house  speed — a  show  of  power  and 
determination  would  prevent  war  at  once. 

But  the  idea  has  gained  ground  that  she 
will  cave  in  at  the  last  moment,  and  that  a 
moral  Majuba  is  to  be  the  sequel  of  the 
military  Majuba ! 

A  little  more  hesitation  will  lose  South 
Africa  to  the  Empire. 

Now  things  are  settled  on  the  Nile  and 
in  China,  the  Bond  see  that  one  great  chance 
has  slipped  past. 

Any  European  complication,  should  it  arise, 
would  be  immediately  a  signal  for  the  con- 
spirators in  Cape  Town  to  strike  a  blow 
simultaneously  with  Pretoria. 

Probably  one-third  of  the  whole  population 
may  be  classed  as  "  neutrals "  to-day  —  a 


16  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

show  of  firmness  would  secure  them  to  the 
"loyals." 

But  if  a  little  more  open  plotting  treason 
is  p-eached,  they  will  go  over  in  a  body  to 
the  rebels. 

Weeks,  and  even  days,  are  precious.  Before 
the  Indian  Mutiny,  Government  had  ample 
warnings,  but  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  all.  For 
God's  sake  do  not  let  us  have  a  repeti- 
tion of  that  awful  tragedy,  through  the 
same  policy  of  "letting  slide"  and  hesitat- 
ing. 

Don't  think  this  is  wild  writing.  It  is 
mild  rather  than  wild.  It  is  time  to  call 
a  spade  a  spade ;  treason  and  rebellion  are 
rampant,  and  a  spark  may  any  hour  set  the 
land  in  a  blaze. 

A  firm  hand  and  a  show  of  force  makes 
for  peace,  not  for  war.  The  franchise  alone 
will  not  settle  all — if  a  number  of  questions 
are  left  open,  the  enemy  will  strike  a  blow 
directly  they  think  England  is  in  any  Euro- 
pean difficulty. 

Remember  it  is  no  new  matter,  though 
England  would  not  see  it  before ;  it  is  a  plot 
of  twenty  years'  growth,  and  not  a  passing 
freak.  Once  for  all  England  must  show  who 


THE  SOUTH  AFRICAN  PLOT  17 

is  to  be  master — the  revolutionary  Bond  or 
the  Imperial  Government. 

Your  Parliament  appears  not  to  have  grasped 
the  fact,  that  the  Transvaal  matter  is  not  an 
isolated  one,  but  merely  the  most  fully 
developed  part  of  the  great  South  African 
plot. 

England's  hands  are  now  free  —  of  this 
fact  Cape  and  Pretoria  Bondsmen  make 
no  disguise  of  their  disgust. 

Rome  is  already  burning ;  will  Nero  fiddle, 
or  will  he  "  show  his  fists  "  ? 


TRANSVAAL, 
z^th  July  1899. 

I  use  Greek  characters  because  tedious 
and  difficult  to  disguise  my  handwriting,  and 
the  general  belief  is  that  letters  are  tampered 
with. 

The  purpose  of  this  letter  is  to  state,  that 
it  is  understood  in  Pretoria  that  the  present 
time  is  not  ripe  for  action,  and  that  it  is 
desirable  either  to  prolong  negotiations,  or 
to  make  temporary  settlement,  till  after  the 

close  of  the  Paris  Exhibition  ! 

c 


18  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

I  think  it  is  most  important  as  showing 
intention. 

In  London,  the  programme  might  be  thought 
preposterous. 

There  is  not  a  doubt  that  during  the 
Fashoda  incident,  the  belief  of  the  Bond  was 
that  the  "time  had  come." 

All  England  seems  to  recognise  that  it  is 
now  no  mere  Transvaal  matter. 

But  be  assured  that  in  the  event  of  any  Euro- 
pean complication,  the  traitor  would 

raise  the  rebel  flag  in  the  Cape,  as  the  last 
and  only  chance. 

All  would  go  right  did  the  British  public 
realise  the  magnitude  of  the  conspiracy. 

It  is  no  sentimental  matter,  but  the  most  wide- 
spread, impudent  conspiracy  of  this  century. 

Some  of  those  in  high  place  at  the  Cape, 
are  mere  Dutch  and  renegade  Africander 
puppets,  working  to  order  of ! 

Unless  this  is  all  stamped  out  once  and  for 
ever,  it  means  a  terrible  war  in  the  near 
future,  when  the  Transvaal  is  more  danger- 
ously armed  than  now.  Your  honoured  father 
would  have  prevented  all  this.  I  hope  you 
will  use  your  influence  in  the  cause  of  right 
for  Africa. 


REASONS  FOR  TRANSVAAL  DELAY    19 

The  "  Edgar  affair"  forced  on  a  crisis  unex- 
pected by  this  Government,*  at  a  time  incon- 
venient to  them  —  or  else  probably  matters 
might  not  have  altered  till  the  period  referred 
to,  i.e.,  after  the  Paris  Exhibition. 


LETTERS    FROM   CAPE   TOWN 

CAPE  TOWN, 
tfh  October  1899. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — Some  time  back 
I  sent  you  from  the  Transvaal  two  letters  in 
Greek  characters,  because  it  is  so  difficult  to 
disguise  handwriting.  There  is  a  common 
belief,  that  many  letters  from  the  Transvaal 
are  steamed  and  opened,  so  that  the  precaution 
was  necessary. 

English  public  opinion  then  seemed  so 
wavering,  that  I  thought  it  the  duty  of  every 
one  to  do  what  little  he  could,  towards  putting 
forward  the  truth. 

Some  of  the  Boer  organs  had  long  insisted, 
that  Pretoria  would  benefit  by  delay  till  some 
possible  European  combination  against  Eng- 
*  Transvaal  Government, 


20  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

land  should  arise  ;  but  when  I  found  that  not 
only  editors,  but  men  in  close  touch  with 
Government,  were  aware  of  the  plan  of  merely 
prolonging  negotiations,  till  the  "close  of  the 
Paris  Exhibition,"  I  saw  the  mischief  was 
ripening  fast. 

By  the  English  papers  it  appears,  that  the 
widespread  nature  of  the  conspiracy  is  at  last 
realised,  as  also  is  the  fact  that  the  "  U  it- 
lander"  question  is  merely  an  incident  in  it, 
which  might  have  cropped  up  in  any  other 
part  of  South  Africa,  in  which  an  industry  had 
furnished  sufficient  revenue  to  accumulate  war 
materials,  and  to  set  on  foot  diplomatic  agencies 
hostile  to  British  supremacy. 

The  matter  in  which  the  British  public  is 
least  well  informed  is  this. 

Papers  write  about  the  Boer  Government, 
Boer  opinion,  etc.,  making  it  appear  too  much 
a  national  movement,  which  the  Hollander  press 
is  very  anxious  that  it  should  seem  to  be. 

Every  day  I  see  more  clearly,  that  the  whole 
business  has  been  engineered,  from  Cape  Town 
and  Pretoria,  by  a  group  of  men,  who  have  for 
years  worked  to  produce  disaffection  among 
the  Boers. 

The  Dagblad,   the  loyal   Dutch  paper,  was 


ANTI-BRITISH  INFLUENCES  21 

doing  good  in  its  short  career,  till  and 

the  Dutch  parsons  threatened  their  ignorant 
dupes  with  something  little  short  of  eternal 
perdition,  if  they  looked  into  this  free  paper ! 

Some  would  reply  that,  whatever  the  means, 
the  end  has  been  achieved,  in  the  rousing  of 
anti- British  feeling. 

But  this  success  is  not  nearly  so  complete  as 
it  looks.  There  is  a  certain  common-sense 
among  this  primitive  people,  which  tells  them 
they  are  being  duped  by  their  leaders.  Once 
let  the  spell  be  broken,  and  the  falling  away 
will  be  very  rapid. 

In  view  of  this  it  is  sad  to  know,  that  nothing 
but  force  will  smash  up  this  traitor  crew  that 
leads  them.  Negotiation  is  folly  and  child's  play. 
Delay  has  added  to  their  moral  strength  of 
position,  and  all  of  us  much  dread  the  possibility 
of  a  reverse  while  we  are  unprepared. 

A  visitor  at  my  hotel  was  lately  at  the 
Paarl,*  and  was  surprised  to  find  among  the 
Boers,  Mauser  rifles  bearing  the  Transvaal 
Government  mark. 

We  did  not  suppose  they  had  been  issued 
so  far  south  as  this. 

Those  who  know  the  Dutch  best,  say  that 
*  A  town  about  30  miles  from  Cape  Town. 


22  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

a  sharp,  prompt  stroke  is  the  kindest  policy, 
and  that  they  will  no  more  remain  seditious 
after  it,  than  they  did  after  the  Warren  Expedi- 
tion, before  which  they  dealt  in  the  wildest 
threats  of  vengeance.*  Further  delay  in  action 
will  have  many  serious  results.  Not  the 
least  is  that  so  many  neutrals  are  induced  to 
accept  pay,  and  to  throw  in  their  lot  with 
the  enemy ;  while  severe  poverty  is  leading 
numbers  to  indulge  in  very  hostile  talk,  against 
the  power  they  should  support  and  aid. 

At  the  present  moment  this  letter  may  seem 
unnecessary,  but  I  thought  I  ought  to  write 
in  explanation  of  the  other  two. 

Nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  the  only 
road  to  peace  is  through  war.  Plenty  of  volun- 
teer aid  will  come  forward  if  needed,  especially 
when  this  anti- British  Ministry  is  shorn  of 
its  strength. 

Trusting  that  you  will  understand  what  very 
strong  feeling  prompted  my  previous  letters  and 
led  me  to  write, — I  remain,  yours  truly. 

*  Sir  Charles  Warren's  Expedition  to  check  Boer 
encroachments  on  Bechuanaland,  1884-1885. 


CAPE  TOWN  INFLUENCE  23 

\_The  "Ultimatum"  was  despatched  by  the 
Boer  Government  on  the  gtk  October,  and  the 
war  began  nth  October,  1899.] 

CAPE  TOWN  INFLUENCE 

CAPE  TOWN, 
2 9 th  November   1899. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — I  have  to  acknow- 
ledge your  letter  of  3Oth  October,  which  only 
reached  me  on  the  27th,  through  my  not 
having  given  my  present  address. 

The  recent  tone  of  the  Paris  press,  seems 
rather  to  verify  what  I  said  as  to  Pretoria 
opinion,  with  regard  to  delaying  hostilities 
till  the  close  of  the  Exhibition.  There  is 
another  matter  which  so  much  impresses  me, 
that  I  shall  now  do  myself  the  pleasure  of 
writing  about  it : — 

Cape  Town  Influence. — After  three  months' 
residence  here,  I  am  more  than  ever  struck 
by  the  undue  share  of  influence  this  town 
possesses  in  all  South  African  politics,  and 
by  the  evil  purposes  to  which  that  influence 
is  devoted.  While  most  of  the  English-born, 
and  many  colonial-born  of  both  races,  are 


24  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

absolutely  and  often  enthusiastically  loyal, 
there  is  a  large  section,  probably  a  large 
majority,  which  is  utterly  disloyal. 

Many  quite  throw  off  the  mask,  and  openly 
triumph  at  any  British  reverses  that  occur. 
Though  Pretoria  finds  the  money  and  the 
arms,  I  firmly  believe  that  a  principal  root 
of  the  "  festering  sore  "  is  in  this  town.  If  we 
only  look  back,  we  find  that  every  Cape 
Governor  who  had  high  aims  and  a  broad 
policy,  found  himself  thwarted  at  every  step, 
by  the  politicians  more  especially  associated 
with  the  capital.  It  has  been  customary  to 
describe  them  as  Western  Province  men,  but 
that  is  a  mere  phrase.  The  Bond  and  the 
anti-British  party  (which  are  identical)  have 
their  headquarters  here.  Till  some  very  new 
order  of  things  is  initiated,  it  must  always 
prove  an  uphill  task  for  any  Governor  or 
High  Commissioner,  to  rule  South  Africa 
from  Cape  Town.  When  one  difficulty  is 
got  over,  it  is  only  to  crop  up  in  some 
new  form,  in  the  campaign  against  all  that 
is  British.  I  have  patiently  tried  to  get  the 
opinions  I  express  endorsed  by  others,  and 
am  often  amused  to  find  how  many  men  will 
go  with  me,  step  by  step,  to  the  same  con- 


CAPE  TOWN  POLICY  25 

elusion,  though  they  have  never  put  the  issue 
broadly  to  themselves,  and  are  disinclined  to 
admit  too  much  against  a  town  in  which  their 
interests  lie. 

I  often  meet  men  who  have  toured 
Australia,  and  other  colonies,  and  have  spent 
a  time  in  this  one.  With  a  little  variety  of 
wording,  the  impressions  they  chiefly  express 
are :  "  Can  we  really  be  in  British  territory, 
"  and  is  it  possible  that  the  Home  Government 
"  granted  responsible  government  to  such  a 
"  mixed  population,  a  great  portion  of  which 
"  is,  in  the  first  place,  too  ignorant  to  be  trusted 
"  with  the  franchise  at  all,  and  is  bound  to 
"  fall  into  the  hands  of  agitators  ?  "  Through- 
out the  Eastern  District,  the  scheme  was  viewed 
with  the  greatest  distrust,  it  being  foreseen 
that  the  power  would  be  grasped  by  men  at 
the  capital. 

Under  Sir  Philip  Wodehouse,  things  came 
to  a  deadlock,  which  was  only  relieved  by 
summoning  Parliament  in  the  East  for  one 
session.  Cape  Town  policy  is  merely  another 
phase  of  the  anti-Uitlander  crusade,  and  the 
extrusion  of  Imperial  interference  (of  which 
they  talk  so  loudly)  means  nothing  but  the 
monopoly  of  political  power,  by  a  local  ring 

D 


26  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

working  with  the  Bond.  I  was  much  sur- 
prised to  find  in  how  little  respect,  the 
present  ministry,  as  a  body,  was  held  by  people 
of  any  party.  It  seems  to  be  regarded 
merely  as  the  best  instrument  to  hand,  by 
those  whose  interests  are  being  served  by  it. 
The  fear  they  appear  to  have  in  common, 
is  that  of  being  ousted  by  men  of  larger 
mental  calibre,  from  the  old  country,  whom 
they  do  their  best  to  boycott.  Just  as  in 
Pretoria,  so  with  these  men,  whose  malig- 
nant jealousy  of  Rhodes  is  on  the  score 
that  one  outside  of  the  charmed  African 
circle,  and  an  Uitlander,  should  have  put 
them  into  obscure  shade.  No  liberal  or  broad 
policy  ever  can  or  will  be  carried  out,  while 
this  unwholesome  element  retains  the  power 
of  veto  that  it  does,  whether  in  or  out  of 
office. 

Many  men,  while  regretting  this,  despair 
of  changing  it,  in  a  community  possessing 
representative  institutions  more  defective  than 
those  of  England  previous  to  the  year  '32. 


THE  SEPARATION  QUESTION  27 


SEPARATION   OF    EAST   AND   WEST   PROVINCES 
OF  CAPE  COLONY 

Separation  of  the  Provinces* — Many  years 
ago,  the  Eastern  Province  fought  desperately 
to  obtain  separation,  and  had  it  been  carried 
in  the  House,  the  present  position  in  Cape 
Colony  could  never  have  arisen.  We  all 
knew  how  power  was  being  absorbed  by 
the  capital.  We  also  knew,  that  separation 
of  the  East  and  West  Provinces  of  Cape 
Colony,  would  at  once  make  an  end  of  the 
scandal  of  dear  bread  and  cheap  brandy.  The 
failure  of  the  movement  did  much  to  check 
British  immigration,  and  to  foster  Africander 
politics. 

The  great  argument  used  in  opposition 
was,  that  neither  province  alone  was  large 
enough  for  a  colony.  To-day  either  province, 
if  separate,  would  produce  several  times  the 
revenue  that  the  whole  colony  did  at  that 
period.  The  great  majority  of  Eastern  farmers 

*  The  danger  of  such  separation,  to  which  the  writer 
constantly  reverts  in  his  letters,  seems  to  be  that  it 
might  result  in  the  Parliament  of  the  Western  half  becom- 
ing an  undilutedly  hostile  centre  of  disaffection. — B.  C.  F. 


28  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UlTLANDER 

have  no  interest  in  a  duty  on  breadstuffs,  but 
would  like  it  abolished  ;  while  the  low  price 
of  Cape  brandy  is  a  perfect  curse  to  them, 
demoralising,  as  it  does,  their  native  labourers. 
Separation  would  knock  the  bottom  out  of 
Bond  politics. 

At  present  the  Eastern  Province  is  weighted 
down  by  the  Western,  exactly  as  in  the  United 
States,  the  progressive  Northern  States  were 
weighted  down  by  the  Southern  States,  before 
the  Civil  War.  Under  present  conditions,  the 
towns,  excluding  the  capital,  must  always  be 
out-voted,  not,  as  in  England  formerly,  by  a 
squirearchy,  but  in  many  cases  by  ignorant 
clowns,  who  in  Europe  would  not  be  thought 
fit  to  exercise  the  franchise  at  all. 

It  seems  so  useless  to  ignore  facts  and 
"hope  for  the  best."  There  can  be  no 
harmony  and  no  progress,  in  a  community 
whose  political  economy  is  a  century  behind 
the  times.  It  is  as  useless  as  discussions  on 
Kruger's  franchise  proposals,  which  were  the 
most  impudent  fraud  ever  seriously  put  for- 
ward, and  whose  sole  object  was  to  gain  time 
for  further  arming  against  England. 

I  am  intensely  sorry  to  see,  that  there  are 


A  BRITISH  OR  A  BOER  CAPE  COLONY?      29 

men  at  home  still  questioning  whether  this 
is  a  righteous  war. 

Are  they  blind  to  the  fact,  that  the  question 
is  whether  the  Cape  shall  remain  British,  or 
become  Boer  territory,  under  despotic  rule, 
carried  out  by  Continental  officials  ?  Much 
of  the  fighting  to-day  is  done  by  Hollander 
and  German  mercenaries,  imported  during  the 
last  few  years,  nominally  for  the  railway  and 
postal  departments  of  the  Transvaal. 

I  trust  that  a  man  of  Sir  A.  Milner's  con- 
spicuous ability,  may  have  become  informed 
of  the  various  old  colonial  questions  and  con- 
tests. I  am  often  disappointed  at  our  public 
speakers  and  authors,  who  too  frequently  play 
the  part  of  a  captain  at  the  head  of  his  own 
troop,  rather  than  that  of  a  general,  who 
views  the  whole  field,  and  knows  what  has 
gone  before. 

Of  all  our  able  writers,  I  am  not  aware 
of  one  who  has  taken  up  the  subject  of  Cape 
Town  local  politics,  though  they  have  proved 
the  bugbear  of  all  reform,  and  a  weapon  for 
the  use  of  every  renegade  and  professional 
politician,  who  desired  to  hamper  Imperial 
policy,  and  to  "make  things  hot"  for  the 
Governor  of  the  time  being. 


30  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

In  spite  of  all  denials,  it  is  an  undoubted 
fact  that  Pretoria  money  has  been  flowing 
here  like  water.  Even  now  that  war  is  on, 
there  are  numbers  of  secret-service  agents 
here. 

You  may  safely  doubt  the  bona- fides  of 
every  pro- Boer  pleader  who  reaches  London. 

Times  have  been  hard  with  us  all,  and 
such  big  cheques  were  to  be  had  for  playing 
false,  that  many  men  have  fallen  before  the 
temptation. 

I  am  thankful  to  be  able  to  write  now  and 
then  on  what  I  see  going  on,  to  one  who 
takes  interest  in  South  Africa,  and  knows  its 
past. 

Hoping  my  letters  are  not  too  lengthy, — I 
am,  yours  sincerely. 


THE  ANTI-MILNER  CRUSADE  31 

[Lord  Roberts  reached  Pretoria,  $th  June 
1900.] 

THE  ANTI-MILNER  CRUSADE 

CAPE  TOWN, 
yd  January  1901. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — It  is  more  than  a 
year  since  I  have  written  to  you  on  South 
African  affairs,  because  during  that  period  the 
press  and  public  had  at  length  fairly  wakened 
up  to  the  gravity  of  the  case. 

I  now  write  to  make  a  few  remarks,  on  the 
anti-Milner  crusade  being  carried  on  by  the 
Bond  Africander  party.  It  is  a  case  of 
history  repeating  itself.  It  is  a  repetition  of 
the  most  sordid,  dastardly  plot  ever  set  on 
foot  in  this  land.  There  is  no  man  living  so 
well  able  as  yourself,  to  estimate  the  motives 
and  the  methods  of  the  men  now  at  work, 
more  or  less  behind  the  scenes.  Whatever 
may  or  may  not  appear  in  the  press,  we  on 
the  spot  constantly  see  indications  of  a 
tremendous  effort  being  made,  to  discredit 
Sir  Alfred  Milner  at  home.  This  for  the 
moment  lies  at  the  very  base  of  all  the  other 


32  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

machinations  of  the  Africander  party.  Pos- 
sibly you  are  aware  of  it  already,  but  the  fact 
is  not  so  prominently  brought  forward  as  it 
deserves  to  be.  These  men  would  give  a 
right  hand  or  a  right  eye,  to  produce  an  un- 
favourable impression  of  Sir  Alfred  Milner  at 
home.  There  are  fellows  going  about  here 
(nominally  loyal)  who  take  opportunities  for 
casually  raising  the  question  :  "  Whether,  after 
all,  this  terrible  war  is  not  the  fruit  of  his 
policy  ?  "  Every  day  I  see  more  plainly,  that 
the  conspirators'  hands  were  forced  just  a  year 
before  the  plot  was  ripe.  But  for  the  murder 
of  Edgar,  and  the  official  sympathy  with  the 
murderer,  we  should  have  drifted  on  till  the 
later  months  of  1900,  when  the  invasion  was 
to  have  been  entered  on.  I  know  that  this 
has  not  been  stated  in  public,  but  I  am  certain 
of  the  fact,  as  I  wrote  to  you  from  the  Trans- 
vaal in  1899.  Had  it  been  carried  out  it 
would  have  meant  our  utter  overthrow,  in  spite 
of  any  talked-of  increases  of  garrisons.  From 
this  we  were  only  saved  by  Sir  Alfred  Milner. 

With  public  opinion  at  home  as  it  is  now, 
there  may  seem  to  be  little  cause  for  any  fear. 
But  I  feel  it  is  just  as  well  to  state  what  I 
see  and  hear  as  a  private  individual. 


THE  SEARCHLIGHT  ON  BOND  DESIGNS     33 

Cape  Town  is  now  the  headquarters  of  the 
enemy,  since  the  occupation  of  Pretoria  by 
Lord  Roberts.  .  .  . 

I  can  quite  imagine  it  possible,  that  the  one 
thing  that  might  not  appear  in  the  despatches 
of  such  a  Governor  as  we  have,  might  be  this 
very  personal  enmity  and  hatred  shown  to 
himself.  Of  course,  they  feel  that  after  plot- 
ting in  the  greatest  security  for  years,  believing 
him  to  be  among  their  dupes,  he  suddenly 
turned  a  searchlight  on  their  doings  without 
caution  or  warning.  Loyal  Dutchmen  in  Cape 
Town  can't  praise  him  enough,  and  well-to-do 
Malays  and  other  people  of  colour  are  delighted 
at  the  overthrow  of  the  anti- British  conspiracy, 
the  success  of  which  would  have  meant  bond- 
age for  them.  You  see  I  have  no  startling 
facts  to  relate.  I  merely  wish  to  give  promi- 
nence to  a  powerful  backstairs-influence  for 
evil,  which  is  being  worked  to  the  utmost. 
There  is  a  great  deal  going  on  below  the  sur- 
face that  the  public  do  not  hear  of,  but  which 
must  not  be  lost  sight  of.  A  Rand  American, 
lately  returned  from  a  visit  to  the  United 
States,  tells  me  that  while  the  English  were 
splitting  hairs  about  the  franchise  question, 

before  the  war,  his  friends  saw  that  the  over- 

E 


34     LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

throw    of    British    supremacy    was    intended, 
directly  they  heard  the  lectures  of  -          -  and 

over   there,   and   they    wondered    that 

the    English   had   not   their   eyes    opened. — I 
am,  etc.,  etc. 


CAPE  COLONY, 
$th  June  1901. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  —  By  this  post  I 
enclose  eleven  sheets  headed  "  Boer  and  pro- 
Boer."  From  the  home  papers  it  always 
appears  to  me,  that  no  distinction  is  recog- 
nised by  the  public,  between  the  great  Boer 
population  on  the  land,  and  the  rascally  group 
in  Cape  Town,  which  for  years  has  led  them 
like  sheep;  now  like  "sheep  to  the  slaughter." 
It  is  the  same  old  cloven  hoof,  a  thorn  in  the 
side  of  every  Governor,  and  of  every  subject 
loyal  to  the  Crown. 

There  is  much  disappointment  and  dis- 
content in  the  country  as  to  the  delay.  This 
one  might  expect.  In  addition  to  the  general 
question,  people  are  troubling  themselves  about 
the  possible  Chinese  immigration  to  Rhodesia. 
Another  murmur  is  owing  to  a  report  that 


BOER  AND  PRO-BOER  35 

has  got  about,  as  to  a  compound  system  in 
Johannesburg,  and  a  monopoly  of  native  labour 
agency  to  be  granted  by  the  new  government 
of  the  Transvaal.  I  know  nothing  of  the 
scope  of  the  undertaking,  and  local  papers, 
after  a  brief  reference  to  it,  have  been  silent, 
strange  to  say.  I  do  hope  we  have  not 
another  burning  question  in  store  for  us,  or 
that,  if  it  nmst  come,  it  will  be  after  a  clean 
finish  has  been  made  of  the  war.  The  Afri- 
cander would  rejoice  in  any  differences  among 
the  Uitlander  population.  On  the  remotest 
off-chance  of  any,  even  small,  differences  with 
the  Continent,  nothing  could  be  more  deplor- 
able than  any  anti-capitalist  cry  being  raised. 
It  was  always  a  favourite  weapon  of  Kruger- 
ism.  I  hope  there  may  be  nothing  in  this 
rumour. — I  remain,  yours  truly. 

BOER  AND  PRO-BOER 
(Enclosure  in  previous  Letter.} 

Seeing  by  the  English  press,  that  recent 
visitors  to  St  Helena  have  been  surprised 
at  the  ignorance  shown  by  Boer  prisoners 
of  war,  on  the  South  African  question,  the 
following  notes  may  be  of  use ;  coming,  as 


36  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

they  do,  from  one  on  the  spot,  who  has  for 
many  years  watched  the  course  of  events, 
and  who  believes  that  the  self -constituted 
"pro- Boer"  of  press  and  platform  notoriety, 
has  all  along  been  the  greatest  enemy  of  the 
misguided  and  cruelly  deceived  Boer  race. 
Thirty  years  ago  the  British  and  Boers 
were  friendly,  and  what  little  sparring  occurred, 
was  nothing  more  than  often  takes  place  good- 
humouredly  between  English  and  Scotch, 
Welsh  and  Irish.  The  previous  ten  years 
had  nearly  seen  the  last  of  the  few  white- 
haired  veterans,  who  assured  you  that,  "  South 
Africa  had  been  ruined  by  the  emancipation 
of  the  slaves,  for  which  England  could  never 
be  quite  forgiven."  But  the  generation  then 
in  its  prime  troubled  little  about  the  matter, 
and  had  no  grievances.  While  these  happy 
relations  existed  among  the  population  gener- 
ally, there  was  a  limited  Dutch  circle  in  Cape 
Town  which  cherished  an  hereditary  jealousy 
of  British  rule,  sometimes  verging  on  hatred  ; 
and  associated  with  this  party  were  a  few 
renegade  English  politicians.  But  their 
opinions  were  not  obtrusively  put  forward, 
while  the  Cape  retained  its  old  form  of 
government.  All  was  changed,  however,  on 


THE  AFRICANDER  BOND  37 

the  advent  of  responsible  government,  from 
which  time  forward  the  Dutch  party  devoted 
itself  to  opposing  the  "  Imperial  factor,"  and 
to  the  weakening  of  British  influence  in  every 
direction. 

Later  on  the  "  Africander  Bond "  was 
started,  with  a  programme  suggestive  of  the 
worthiest  aims,  such  as  the  advance  of  agri- 
culture and  the  bettering  of  the  farmer  all 
round.  This  specious  exterior,  however,  was 
merely  the  cloak  for  a  revolutionary  propa- 
ganda, and  the  easy-going  Boer  farmer,  whose 
indifference  to  politics  had  amounted  almost  to 
apathy,  learnt  to  enjoy  the  stimulant  afforded 
by  farmers'  meetings,  held  with  closed  doors 
at  the  house  of  the  field-cornet  of  his  district. 
It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  promoters 
of  the  Bond  were  actuated  by  sentimental 
politics  alone.  There  were  also  substantial 
monetary  interests  which  guided  their  policy. 
The  districts  round  Cape  Town,  owing  to  the 
nature  of  their  soil  and  climate,  had  always 
been  the  home  of  the  brandy  distiller,  who 
has  up  to  the  present  day  (with  one  or  two 
years  excepted),  successfully  resisted  every 
attempt  to  place  a  small  excise  tax  on  his 
spirits ;  although  for  nine  years  out  of  ten  his 


38 

brandy  has  been  retailed  at  a  shilling  a  bottle, 
while  a  heavy  import  duty  was  imposed  on 
foreign  spirits.  Brandy  is  the  pivot  round 
which  Cape  politics  revolved  for  many  years, 
and  even  the  whisper  of  an  Excise  Act  would 
affect  all  other  legislation  in  Parliament ;  and, 
the  distillers  being  nearly  all  Dutch,  a  political 
nucleus  was  thus  in  existence,  which  naturally 
attracted  to  it  a  majority  of  the  Dutch  of 
the  Western  Province.  The  founders  of  the 
Bond,  recognised  in  the  brandy  interest  a 
valuable  auxiliary,  and,  last  but  not  least,  the 
majority  of  the  ministers  of  the  Dutch  Reformed 
Church,  not  only  made  common  cause  with 
the  other  two,  but  threw  their  whole  weight 
into  the  scale  of  the  anti-British  element  in 
South  Africa.  The  composition  of  this 
remarkable  trio  is  probably  without  a  parallel 
in  history.  Thus  a  very  solid  and  compact 
party  was  formed,  which  at  first  was  more 
territorial  than  racial  in  its  origin.  It  was 
the  work  of  the  Bond  to  add  to  the  defensive 
armour  of  monopoly,  the  aggressive  weapon  of 
racial  antipathy.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted 
that  the  Dutch  press  and  pulpit  have,  in  so 
many  instances,  taken  an  active  part  in  this 
evil  work  throughout  South  Africa,  forgetting 


BOND  METHODS  39 

the  ominous  warning :  "  Woe  unto  those  that 
call  evil  good  and  good  evil,  that  put  darkness 
for  light  and  light  for  darkness,  that  put 
bitter  for  sweet,  and  sweet  for  bitter." 

[I  must  not  omit  one  malign  villainous 
weapon  used  to  fan  the  flame  of  hatred  against 
the  British.  I  refer  to  the  "  Slagters  Nek" 
incident.  Years  after  this  merciless  execution 
had  been  carried  out,  by  Dutch  officials 
according  to  the  sentence  of  a  Dutch  judge, 
the  impudent  fiction  was  started,  representing 
it  to  be  the  work  of  Englishmen  prompted 
by  racial  animosity.] 

This  compact  party  now  felt  the  want  of 
a  name,  and  discovered  that  they  were 
Africanders,  a  clumsy  word  which  was  no 
longer,  as  hitherto,  to  be  the  distinctive  name 
of  the  half-caste  descendants  of  the  Dutch, 
and  of  the  old  slave  population. 

The  Bond  and  the  Africander  party  in  the 
colony,  were  on  good  terms  with  the  Kruger- 
Hollander  politicians  of  Pretoria,  and  the 
Hollander-German  officials  of  Bloemfontein. 

It  may  be  asked  here,  "  But  where  did 
the  bona-fide  Boer  come  in  ?  " 

The  Boers,  as  a  people,  had  no  say  in  the 
matter,  and,  in  the  earlier  stage  of  the  move- 


40  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

ment,  not  one  in  five  hundred  had  any  idea 
of  the  inner  counsels  and  intrigues.  They 
were  regarded  by  the  Africander  agitator, 
merely  as  so  much  food  for  powder  in  the 
coming  struggle.  Those  who  wonder  that 
a  treasonable  association  could  obtain  such 
widespread  influence,  should  consider  what 
might  have  been  accomplished  by  Nihilists 
and  Anarchists  in  Europe,  had  they,  like  the 
Bond,  been  backed  by  a  neighbouring  state 
controlling  millions  of  money,  and  by  press 
and  pulpit.  Our  enemies,  after  years  of 
waiting,  saw  their  chance  when  an  arsenal 
and  a  treasury  was  provided  in  Pretoria,  out 
of  the  enormous  taxation  extorted  by  P. 
Kruger  from  the  Uitlander.  Writers  and 
speakers,  now  posing  as  pro- Boers  in  England, 
are  championing  a  group  of  mischievous 
intriguers,  very  few  of  whom  have  risen  above 
mediocrity,  while  those  few  owe  their  status 
to  a  certain  quality  recognised  by  themselves 
as  Africander  slimness,  which  is  simply  an 
indigenous  variety  of  cunning,  well  known 
on  the  spot,  but  as  difficult  to  describe  as 
the  difference  between  English  and  American 
wit.  It  has  produced  many  intriguers,  but 
not  one  statesman.  The  cry  of  "  Africa  for 


KRUGER  AND  THE  UlTLANDERS  41 

the  Africander,"  meant  nothing  but,  "keep- 
ing a  close  preserve  for  a  coterie  of  profes- 
sional politicians." 

Whilst  speaking  of  statesmen,  it  may  be 
remarked  that  Paul  Kruger's  ability  at 
striking  a  bargain,  and  jockeying  the  other 
side,  was  not  more  remarkable  than  his  want 
of  foresight.  During  the  first  year  or  two  of 
the  gold  industry,  the  large  colonial  population 
that  arrived  on  the  Rand,  while  not  wanting 
in  respect  for  the  mother  country,  had  nothing 
but  anathemas  for  Downing  Street.  They 
fraternised  with  the  Boers,  and  regarded 
with  favour  the  Republic  and  its  President. 
Many  wondered  what  this  would  tend  to. 
It  was  only  the  persistent  and  gratuitous 
expressions  of  hostility  to  newcomers  that 
checked  these  sentiments,  which  had  proved 
catching  even  among  new  arrivals  from  the 
old  country.  Had  these  friendly  feelings 
been  fostered,  at  a  period  during  which  the 
memories  of  1881  were  still  sore  points, 
South  African  history  might  have  shaped 
itself  very  differently.  It  is  not  worth  while 
speculating  in  that  direction.  It  is  sufficient 
<-o  say,  that  no  apprehension  as  to  the 

possible    swamping  effect   of  future  immigra- 

F 


42  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

tion,  would  have  induced  a  man  worth  the 
name  of  "statesman,"  to  make  enemies  of  a 
whole  population,  on  a  large  portion  of  which 
the  ties  of  a  previous  citizenship  were  not  very 
binding.  Even  with  our  present  knowledge 
of  Kruger's  secret  designs  against  England, 
his  churlish  attitude  can  only  be  regarded 
as  that  of  a  clumsy  Goth,  attempting  the 
role  of  a  Machiavelli.  In  1887-1888  Kruger 
had  the  ball  at  his  feet  and  never  saw  it. 
His  one  idea  was  brute  force,  tempered  by 
Kaffir  cunning.  A  ludicrous  blending  of  the 
two  qualities  could  be  detected  in  speeches 
made  to  the  Uitlanders,  when  he  presumably 
wished  to  appear  at  his  best. 

The  Africander  detested  the  word  "immi- 
gration," and  he  regarded  the  newcomer  from 
France,  Italy,  or  Germany,  as  only  a  little  less 
undesirable  than  one  from  the  British  Islands. 
"  Krugerism,"  "  Bondism,"  and  "Africander- 
ism  "  are  transposable  terms,  for  an  element 
which  has  always  opposed  reforms,  and  has 
hindered  the  advance  of  South  Africa. 

It  is  this  influence  which  has  stood  in  the 
path  of  every  governor,  who  has  troubled  to 
have  any  policy  of  his  own.  It  is  this  which 
thwarted  at  every  step,  and  finally  overthrew, 


AFRICANDERISM  43 

the  work  of  Governor  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  to  the 
intense  chagrin  and  disgust  of  all  loyal  British 
subjects  in  South  Africa,  and  in  spite  of  their 
earnest  remonstrances.  It  is  this  influence 
which  emboldens  the  lawless  bands  now 
pillaging  farms,  and  looting  village  shops,  in 
the  Colony.  Much  of  the  mischief  arises 
from  the  uncertainty  of  British  policy  in  the 
past.  Even  after  the  relief  of  Mafeking,  most 
Bondsmen  thought  "it  did  not  matter";  and 
that  the  Boers  would  hold  out  for  a  good 
while,  and  that  directly  taxation  was  talked  of, 
the  "  stupid,  ignorant  British  workman  "  would 
begin  to  howl ;  then  the  "  Liberals "  would 
turn  out  the  "Jingoes,"  and  give  back  the 
Transvaal  as  before. 

The  above  delightfully  simple  process  has 
been  an  article  of  the  Africander's  faith,  on 
which  he  is  only  now  becoming  sceptical. 

The  sad  thing  is  that  the  prime  movers  in 
all  this  trouble  are  snug  in  their  offices  in 
town,  just  out  of  reach  of  the  law,  hearing 
their  praises  shouted  by  hysterical  faddists 
on  pro- Boer  platforms  at  home  —  while 
"Tommy  Atkins"  and  the  poor  Boer  are 
suffering  the  hardships  of  a  campaign.  Much 
as  we  must  pity  the  Boer,  he  is  simply  paying 


44     LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

the  inevitable  penalty  of  ignorance ;  and  of 
ignorance  fostered  by  those,  who  should  have 
been  his  teachers  and  safe  guides. 


une  1901. 

Dear    Sir    Bartle    Frere, — I    enclose   a    few 
more  notes  on  the  race  question,  in  case  any 
of  them  may  interest  those  who  did  not  (like 
me)   know  South  Africa   many  years   ago.— 
Yours  sincerely. 


THE    RACE   QUESTION 

CAPE  TOWN, 
iqth  June  1901. 

There  is  one  most  important  chapter  in  Cape 
history,  which  has  not  received  the  attention 
it  deserves ;  namely,  the  great  effort  made  by 
the  people  of  the  Eastern  districts  of  Cape 
Colony  to  obtain  separation  from  the  Western 
districts,  which  continued  with  more  or  less 
activity  over  a  period  of  fifteen  or  twenty 
years.  The  failure  of  this  effort  caused  more 
universally  bitter  disappointment  in  the  East 


THE  RACE  QUESTION  45 

than  any  other  political  event  in  our  history, 
with  the  one  exception  of  having  responsible 
government  forced  on  the  country  by  the 
irresistible  influence  acquired  by  the  then 
purely  territorial  party  in  the  West.  This, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  meant  the  local  politicians 
at  the  capital,  which,  (in  the  absence  of  rail- 
ways, and  with  the  slow  passenger  and  postal 
communication  between  Cape  Town  and  the 
Eastern  districts,)  had  practically  half  dis- 
enfranchised the  latter,  and  had  given  Cape 
Town  the  same  dominant  position  in  the  Cape 
Colony,  as  (to  compare  small  things  with 
great)  Paris  holds  in  France,  with  such  dis- 
astrous results. 

Beside  the  disadvantages  under  which  the 
East  laboured  through  distance  from  the  capital, 
and  through  its  fixed  and  permanent  minority 
of  members  in  the  House  of  Assembly,  there 
was  another  evil  not  less  serious.  The  man 
elected  by  a  frontier  constituency,  found  life  at 
the  capital  more  enjoyable  than  it  was  in  the 
up-country  "dorp,"  and  some  few  would  settle 
down  there,  and  many  became  more  or  less 
absorbed  by,  or  incorporated  with,  their  new 
surroundings.  Hence  the  remarkable  and 
not  unfrequent  spectacle,  of  a  representative 


46  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

of  an  Eastern  constituency  opposing  the  very 
measures  he  was  sent  to  advocate,  or  else 
playing  such  a  neutral  part  that  he  might  just 
as  well  never  have  left  his  "dorp." 

In  all  the  long  list  of  South  African  para- 
doxes, not  one  is  more  incomprehensible  than 
the  ignoring  for  half-a-century,  by  the  Home 
Government,  of  the  rights  of  the  British  section 
of  the  Cape  population.  This  ignoring  is 
really  only  a  chronic  form  of  the  same 
disease,  the  acute  form  of  which,  in  the  case 
of  the  Uitlander,  helped  to  bring  about  this 
war. 

Among  old  colonists,  it  has  for  many  years 
been  an  axiom  that  in  South  Africa  a  man 
of  any  nationality  stands  a  better  chance  of 
getting  a  hearing  than  a  Britisher. 

The  late  Mr  Saul  Solomon,  who  was  not 
only  a  very  clever,  but  also  an  honest  poli- 
tician, was  at  the  period  referred  to  the  most 
powerful  advocate  of  the  Western  party.  He 
considered  the  Colony  to  be  too  small  for 
division  into  two,  and  had  grown  up  to 
believe  that  Cape  Town  had  earned  a  sort 
of  prescriptive  right  as  the  only  seat  of 
Government,  and  he  regarded  Eastern  district 
towns  as  mere  trading  centres.  At  the  end 


THE  BRANDY  INTEREST  47 

of  a  long  conversation  I  had  with  him,  he 
remarked,  with  evident  satisfaction,  that  in 
a  year  or  two  more,  what  with  the  public 
debt  and  other  matters  which  I  forget,  things 
would  be  so  inextricably  mixed  up  that  separa- 
tion would  be  impossible.  He  was  an 
optimist  as  to  the  future  of  the  united  Cape 
Colony  under  responsible  government.  All 
his  most  cherished  hopes  and  forecasts  were 
falsified  to  an  extent  past  the  expectations 
and  fears  of  his  bitterest  opponents.  It  was 
non-separation,  plus  responsible  government, 
which  alone  brought  the  present  state  of 
things  within  the  range  of  possibility.  A 
glance  at  any  old  newspaper  will  show  that 
race  questions  were  non-existent.  The  com- 
plaint of  the  East  was,  that  a  territorial  party 
in  the  West  had  usurped  all  political  power ; 
the  territory  referred  to  being  the  very  small 
one  in  which  brandy  was  produced.  Brandy 
at  a  shilling  a  bottle  had  long  been  the 
curse  of  the  Eastern  province,  which  was, 
as  it  still  is,  the  home  of  tens  of  thousands 
of  uncivilised  Kaffirs.  Men  dependent  on 
native  labour  often  found  themselves  for  days 
together,  in  the  middle  of  harvesting  or  at 
shearing  time,  alone  on  their  farms,  while 


48     LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

their  Kaffirs  were  lying  drunk  in  the  bush 
near  some  roadside  canteen.  The  efforts  of 
philanthropist  and  missionary  have  all  been 
to  a  great  extent  neutralised  by  this  same 
curse.  It  hardly  need  be  said  that  while 
Kaffirs  are  the  greatest  sufferers,  not  a  few 
of  the  white  population  have  fallen  victims 
to  the  temptation  offered  by  brandy  being 
the  "cheap  national  drink,"  as  I  have  often 
heard  it  described.  The  population  of  the 
East  would,  almost  to  a  man,  vote  for  an 
excise  tax  on  brandy,  but  all  effort  is  use- 
less against  the  brandy  interest  in  the  Cape 
Parliament. 

The  distillers  are  numerically  an  insignifi- 
cant body,  but  they  overshadow  a  great 
many  poorer  neighbours,  and  were  for  many 
years  a  most  influential  nucleus  of  party. 

A  ministry  has  only  to  suggest  a  small 
excise  tax,  and  it  finds  its  adherents  falling 
away  in  all  directions.  The  Africander  Bond, 
in  its  early  stages  and  without  the  powerful 
alliance  of  this  interest,  would  have  been 
about  as  meaningless  as  the  play  of  Hamlet 
with  Hamlet's  part  left  out.  Again,  the 
very  small  portion  of  the  Dutch  residents 
at  the  Cape  who  nursed  an  hereditary  hatred 


RISE  OF  THE  RACE  QUESTION  49 

of  England,  scarcely  made  themselves  felt 
till  Africander  leaders  saw  the  chances  offered 
by  Responsible  Government,  for  drawing 
recruits  from  this  quarter  into  their  great 
Cave  of  Adullam. 

It  is  difficult  to  explain  to  strangers  the 
intimate  connection  of  these  forces,  and  how 
naturally  causes,  apparently  small,  produced 
great  effects,  under  the  trustful,  all-confiding 
rule  of  Britain,  and  by  the  aid  of  a  press  and 
pulpit,  to  a  great  extent  at  the  service  of 
the  party. 

It  cannot  be  too  strongly  brought  to  the 
notice  of  those  who  only  know  the  South 
Africa  of  to-day,  that  thirty  or  forty  years 
ago  no  one  dreamed  of  any  racial  question, 
which  is  a  weapon  carefully  and  laboriously 
constructed,  by  the  then  utterly  insignificant 
anti- British  party,  the  secret  underground 
working  of  which  the  great  majority  of  con- 
tented loyal  colonists  for  many  years  refused 
to  believe  in,  until  the  mask  was  fairly 
thrown  off. 

Then  men  learned,  to  their  astonishment, 
what  a  disloyal  propaganda  was  abroad,  and 
how  their  sons,  whether  on  the  cricket-field 
or  in  the  office  or  shop,  were  approached  by  its 


50  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

supporters  with,  "  You  are  a  born  Africander, 
of  course  you  are  with  us." 

These  things,  so  familiar  to  us  on  the 
spot,  may  not  be  generally  known  in  the  old 
country. 


QUESTION     OF    THE    SUSPENSION 
"  OF   THE   CAPE   CONSTITUTION 


1901. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  —  I  sincerely  hope 
that  I  may  not  be  the  only  correspondent 
writing  to  you  on  this  important  subject.  It 
is  just  the  one  of  all  others,  on  which  loyal 
colonial  opinion  may  not  be  quite  fairly 
represented. 

It  happens  (perhaps  inevitably)  that  at  the 
seat  of  Government,  great  influence  is  exerted 
by  official  circles,  directly  such  a  subject  comes 
to  the  fore  as  "  Suspension  of  the  Constitu- 
tion." Both  captain  and  crew*  hope  against 
hope  that  they  can  again  take  charge  of  the 
ship,  and  steer  her  into  some  port  or  other  ; 
as  no  doubt  they  can,  but  it  is  just  the 

'•  This  refers,  of  course,  solely  to  the  ministry,  not  to 
the  High  Commissioner  or  Governor.  —  B.  C.  F. 


SUSPENSION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION       51 

question  of  what  port  that  troubles  the  minds 
of  nine  out  of  ten  non-official  loyalists.  Govern- 
ment by  climbing-down-half-way  (made  long 
familiar  to  us  here),  may  be  tolerated  in  financial 
and  parochial  matters,  but  against  a  seditious 
and  revolutionary  caucus,  it  is  weak,  con- 
temptible folly  to  entertain  for  a  moment  its 
continuance. 

A  great  many  men  who  desire  the  suspen- 
sion, are  (when  pressed  by  opponents)  amen- 
able to  the  argument  of  "  but  let  us  give  the 
Government  a  trial  before  acting." 

But  then  half  our  present  troubles  are  the 
result  of  locking  the  stable  door  after,  instead 
of  before,  the  horse  was  stolen,  owing  to  the 
pressure  brought  to  bear  by  British  patience 
and  constitutionalism-run-mad. 

Never  was  there  a  greater  delusion  than 
the  idea,  that  in  Cape  Colony  the  Bond  and 
local  rebel  element  are  now  more  open  to 
reason  than  before,  or  that  they  will  accept 
the  argument  of  facts.  They  are  more  bitter 
than  the  Boers  in  the  conquered  states  this  day. 

The  public  has  long  been  reckoning  on 
the  purging  effect  on  the  electorate,  through 
the  disenfranchisement  passed  on  convicted 
rebels.  The  other  side  are  now  openly  boast- 


52  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

ing,  that  this  loss  of  Bond  votes  will  be  twice 
over  compensated  for,  by  bringing  down  Boers 
who  have  lost  their  all  in  the  war,  and  Boers 
who  never  had  anything  to  lose. 

Those  who  think  this  threat  (as  some  do) 
more  theoretical  than  practical,  forget  the 
Kruger  money  which  most  probably  is  still 
available,  as  before,  for  intrigue  and  seditious 
purposes  in  Cape  Colony.  The  Bond  pro- 
gramme is  simply,  to  regain  possession  of 
its  arsenal  and  treasury  by  reinstating  the 
Transvaal  Republic,  and  to  achieve  that  in 
turn,  by  making  Government  in  Cape  Town 
impossible,  and  by  making  Lord  Milner's 
position  impossible.  The  English  people  who 
imagine  the  present  struggle  to  be  simply 
one  between  British  and  Dutch,  would  be 
amazed  to  know  how  heartily  thankful  a  large 
section  of  the  Dutch  would  be  to  hear  that 
the  Cape  Constitution  was  suspended,  and  that 
they  could  follow  their  ordinary  pursuits  again, 
uninterrupted  by  incessant  Bond  agitation, 
and  threat  of  boycott. 

Many  well  able  to  judge  believe  the  war 
would  have  been  over  before  now,  had  this 
step  of  suspending  the  Constitution  been  taken 
earlier, 


THE  WIRE-PULLERS  OF  THE  BOND         53 

One  great  misfortune  is,  that  the  men  who 
pull  the  wires  from  Cape  Town  and  Graaf 
Reinet,  and  one  or  two  other  centres  of 
sedition,  do  not  as  a  rule  suffer  much  from 
the  war,  and  they  might  be  prepared  for 
desperate  play  when  it  comes  to  the  final 
throw. 

It  is  no  figure  of  speech,  but  quite  accurate 
wording,  to  say  that  many  of  these  men  would 
hail  general  anarchy  in  South  Africa,  as  likely 
to  weary  the  British  taxpayer,  and  tend  to 
bring  about  that  foreign  intervention,  the  non- 
appearance  of  which  hitherto  has  proved,  to 
their  understandings,  as  unaccountable  and 
perplexing  as  wrould  some  sudden  suspension 
of  the  law  of  gravitation. 

From  Paul  Kruger  down  to  his  meanest 
agent  in  Cape  Town,  this  has  proved  the 
great  unlooked-for  factor  in  the  position,  over 
which  each  one  can  only  scratch  his  head 
and  stare,  when  asked  why  foreign  armies 
have  not  landed  yet  ? 

The  robber  bands  now  looting  English  and 
Dutch  farms  in  Cape  Colony  with  wonderful 
impartiality,  are  stimulated  still  with  this  hope 
by  their  backers,  who  also  further  goad  them 
on  in  their  criminal  course,  by  supplying 


54  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

extracts    from    disloyal    speeches   and    articles 

by  renegades  of  the , ,  and 

type  (mentioning  three  prominent  English  pro- 
Boers).  Oh,  that  England  could  only  realise 
that  the  racial,  as  such,  was  only  an  incidental 
element  in  the  case,  and  that  element  only  raised 
to  its  present  proportions  by  Kruger  and  his 
Bond  partisans  and  agents  throughout  South 
Africa. 

While  giving  all  honour  to  the  pluck  of 
a  ministry,  willing  to  attempt  the  carrying 
on  of  parliamentary  institutions,  the  great 
majority  of  us  know  well,  that  half  the  members 
who  would  sit  in  Parliament  if  now  assembled, 
would  only  endeavour  to  do,  on  a  large  scale, 
what  a  few  sedition  mongers  and  renegades 
effected  on  a  smaller  scale,  at  some  of  the 
recent  local  meetings  in  Cape  Colony. 

To  maintain  the  Constitution  in  force  at 
present,  is  simply  courting  disaster  and 
anarchy  and  prolongation  of  the  war,  and 
increasing  infinitely  the  heavy  burden  on 
Lord  Milner's  shoulders.  —  I  am,  yours  sin- 
cerely. 


EASTERN  PROVINCE  GRIEVANCES          55 

CAPE  TOWN, 
i6th  October  1901. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  -  -  The  political 
question  of  the  day  which  shares  with  the 
war  the  attention  of  the  public,  is  that  of  the 
Suspension  of  the  Cape  Constitution.  As 
might  be  expected,  the  strongest  advocates 
of  the  measure  are  not  to  be  found  at  the 
capital  and  seat  of  Government.  I  enclose, 
as  an  exponent  of  the  Suspensionist  view,  a 
newspaper  cutting  I  have  just  had  sent  to 
me.  It  is  an  article  from  an  Eastern  news- 
paper. Were  people  in  England  informed, 
that  the  Eastern  province  is  no  mere  geo- 
graphical division  of  territory,  but  a  very 
important  factor  in  Imperial  interests,  more 
attention  would  be  paid  to  the  opinions  of 
its  press  and  leading  men.  The  colonisation 
of  the  Eastern  districts,  may  fairly  be  described 
as  the  work  of  the  British  settlers  who  came 
out  from  England  in  1820,  to  the  number  of 
5000  men,  women,  and  children.  But  for 
this  accession  of  population,  the  Cape  Colony 
would  have  been  to-day  almost  as  Dutch  as 
Java.  Had  the  heroic  work  of  these  sturdy 
pioneers  been  performed  by  Cretan  or  Servian 


56  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

refugees,  a  halo  of  romance  would  have  been 
thrown  around  the  story ;  but  as  they  were 
merely  everyday  Englishmen,  they  (through 
a  certain  perversity  of  our  race)  failed  to 
obtain  the  sympathy  they  might  have  expected, 
from  the  mother  country.  Their  often  repeated 
attempts  at  obtaining  a  fair  share  of  Parlia- 
mentary representation,  were  viewed  with 
apathy  and  indifference,  as  was  also  the  effort 
to  secure  a  separate  government  for  the  East. 
The  final  blow  was  dealt,  when  responsible 
government  was  forced  upon  them  against 
their  strongest  protests  and  remonstrances, 
and  they  found  themselves  subjected  to  a 
territorial  party  which  was  always  able  to 
outvote  them,  and  they  were  practically  with- 
out a  voice  in  politics.  Like  the  Uitlanders 
under  the  Kruger  regime,  they  were  expected 
to  "work  out  their  own  salvation"  against 
impossible  odds.  The  way  in  which  the  Home 
Government  recklessly  rejected,  and  ignored, 
the  voice  of  the  British  section  of  population, 
of  course  threw  political  power  almost  entirely 
into  the  hands  of  the  race  which,  if  not  at 
the  time  hostile,  had  little  sympathy  with 
British  interests. 

As  to (a  prominent  Cape  politician) 


BENEFITS  OF  SEPARATION  57 

not  a  word  is  said  against  his  rectitude,  nor 
does  any  one  dispute  his  being  clean-handed, 
but  the  most  loyal  public  men  here  suffer  in 
time  by  always  having  to  meet  the  seditions 
half  way. 

Again,  the  representatives  of  Eastern  con- 
stituencies after  settling  in  Cape  Town,  are 
but  too  often  absorbed,  and  fall  into  the  adop- 
tion of  all  the  local  shibboleths. 


CAPE  TOWN, 
$th  December  1901. 

I  have  merely  skimmed  over  the  question 
of  separation  of  East  and  West  halves  of  Cape 
Colony,  on  which  reams  might  be  written  of 
substantial  fact  and  sound  reasoning,  to  show 
that  separation,  if  promptly  and  early  carried 
out,  would  remove  a  crushing  burden  from  our 
ruler's  shoulders. 

Directly  this  became  an  accomplished  fact, 
the  compact  Cape  party  would  fall  to  pieces, 
instead  of  remaining  to  thwart  and  hamper 
the  action  of  every  high-minded  patriotic 
governor. 

The  rule  of  the  much  abused  capitalists  is 

H 


58  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

healthy  and  moral,  compared  with  the  anti- 
British  slimy  manoeuvrings  of  a  local  coterie, 
attracting  to  itself  all  the  forces  that  oppose 
progress  and  immigration,  and  whose  fiscal 
programme  is  simply  the  protection  of  a  long- 
privileged  class,  occupying  a  limited  area 
round  the  Peninsular. 

It  quite  passes  comprehension,  how  the 
present  Anglophobe  mania  should  have  seized 
the  men  who,  for  years,  have  held  the  balance 
of  power  in  a  British  colony.  Some  years  ago 
a  German  literary  man  remarked  to  me,  that 
the  power  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  communities  to 
rule  themselves  was  a  matter  of  heredity,  in 
which  other  races  were  not  their  equals. 

The  appointment  of  Sir  A.  Milner  was  made 
only  just  in  time  to  save  South  Africa  to  the 
Empire.*  The  wealthy  traitors  at  Cape  Town 
had,  of  course,  quite  reckoned  on  the  up-country 
Boer  completing  the  business  for  them,  and 
are  much  disgusted  at  having  to  risk  life  or 
property  at  this  stage  of  affairs. 

Immigration. — I   see  an  English  newspaper 

*  A  well-known  pro-Boer  member  of  the  Cape 
Assembly  once  said  to  a  friend  of  mine,  in  so  many  words, 
"  The  fact  is,  Sir  Alfred  Milner  came  here  just  two  years 
too  soon  (!)"— B.C.  F. 


IMMIGRATION  59 

is  advising  people  not  to  delay  coming  to 
South  Africa  till  all  is  quiet,  for  fear  of 
foreigners  stepping  in  before  them. 

Even  should  peace  come  shortly,  nothing 
could  be  more  disastrous  than  a  rush  here, 
whether  of  British  or  foreigners.  Influential 
Englishmen  could  render  us  no  better  service 
than  by  making  this  understood  at  home  and 
on  the  Continent.  For  a  man  with  money, 
who  wants  to  gamble,  it  may  be  very  well,  but 
for  the  great  bulk  of  the  emigrating  classes  as 
known  to  Australia  and  Canada,  it  would  be 
the  height  of  folly  to  rush  this  country,  till 
Government  shall  have  had  time  to  allot  land 
for  the  purpose.  As  to  office  clerks  and  skilled 
mechanics,  a  few  hundred  would  flood  the 
market,  as  thousands  of  the  old  hands  have 
remained  here  fighting,  or  else  living  in  poverty. 

In  case  of  failure  to  get  employment  at  their 
regular  occupation,  and  having  to  fall  back  on 
rough  labour  (as  they  might  in  many  countries), 
they  come  into  competition  here  with  black 
and  half-caste  labour.  The  authorities  will 
have  enough  on  their  hands  for  a  year  or  two, 
without  having  to  deal  with  thousands  of  dis- 
appointed immigrants.  How  this  can  be  put 
in  its  true  light  before  the  Continental,  as  well 


60  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

as  the  British,  press,  I  can  form  no  idea,  but 
it  is  a  question  of  very  great  importance 
indeed. 

A  rush  of  immigrants  (especially  foreigners) 
would  prove  to  be  a  case  of  "out  of  the 
frying-pan  into  the  fire"  for  South  Africa,  the 
economic  results  of  which  (however  bad)  would 
be  only  second  to  the  political  considerations. 
I  am  not  speaking  off-hand  on  this  matter.  I 
am  alarmed  to  hear  from  many  different 
quarters,  how  many  are  preparing  for  a  rush, 
and  I  find  that  others  are  concerned  at  similar 
news  reaching  them. 

Many  people  dismiss  such  matters  with 
great  levity,  saying,  "  Let  them  all  come,"  "  It 
is  good  for  trade,  and  circulates  money."  I 
hold  this  to  be  a  most  miserable  and  dangerous 
fallacy  in  the  present  case.* 


^rd  November  1901. 

Dear     Sir     Bartle    Frere, — Regrettable    as 
is  the  long  duration  of  the  war  to  us  all,  we 

*  A  letter  in  the  Daily  Mail  of  5th  December  says  there 
are  now  3000  unemployed  in  Durban,  and  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  such  in  South  Africa.  Lodging,  with 
board,  costs  £7  to  £10  per  month  per  person  in 
Durban,  and  everything  is  very  expensive. — B.  C.  F. 


CHANCES  OF  PEACE  61 

on  this  side  often  pick  up  information  which 
tends  to  show,  that  the  process  of  wearing 
out  the  enemy  is  rapidly  going  on,  and  is 
not  the  fiction  that  some  pro- Boers  would 
have  us  think. 

It  is  undoubtedly  telling  on  the  disloyal, 
and  the  waverers  in  the  West,  as  to  whom 
there  has,  at  times,  been  considerable  anxiety, 
but  who  for  the  most  part  now  see  that  the 
"game  is  up."  The  rabid  irreconcilables  are 
more  rabid  than  ever,  and  are  always  trying 
to  believe  that  the  next  ten  million  of  war 
debt  will  prove  the  proverbial  back-breaking 
last  ounce.  This  is  industriously  circulated 
throughout  all  anti- British  circles.  The  work 

of ,  —      — ,   and   (mentioning 

three  prominent  English  pro- Boers)  would  be 
beneath  contempt,  were  they  not  co-partners 
with  the  Continental  Anglophobes,  whose 
combined  influence  has  caused  the  deaths  of 
thousands,  and  added  many  millions  to  the 
national  debt  of  England.  What  miserable 
degradation  those  men  and  their  following 
have  brought  themselves  down  to !  I  can 
understand  the  fascination  and  intoxication 
of  party  fighting,  but  can  no  claim  of 
patriotism  induce  those  men  to  stop  short  in 


62  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

a  course,  which  is  regarded  with  hatred 
and  scorn  by  loyal  South  Africans.  The 
rebels  who  welcome  their  work  scarcely  try 
to  disguise  their  contempt  for  the  workers ; 
whom  they  (in  their  shallow  knowledge  of 
English  parties)  suppose  to  be  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  "dirty,  lazy,  drunken, 
working  classes  of  England,"  as  described 
in  the  first  letter  of  "P.  S."  to  the  home 
press. 

A  recent  Times  cable  spoke  of  an  idea 
just  started,  as  to  contradicting,  in  some 
official  way,  the  wholesale  slanders  of  our 
troops  appearing  in  the  Continental  press, 
and  prompted  by  Leyds. 

Why  was  not  this  done  long  ago  ?  The 
evil  resulting  is  no  mere  sentimental  one,  but 
a  very  positive  one. 

In  spite  of  the  "censor"  under  martial  law, 
these  iniquitous  slanders  are  all  known  and 
gloated  over  here  by  our  enemies,  who  will 
not  give  up  the  hope  of  foreign  intervention. 
Unfortunately,  these  arch  scoundrels  on  the 
coast  are  as  a  rule  doing  very  well,  whether 
attorneys,  doctors,  shopkeepers,  or  what  not, 
and  they  don't  care  how  the  wretches  in  the 
fighting  line  get  killed.  They,  in  safety 


THE  LESSONS  OF  MAJUBA  63 

and  comfort,  egg  on  their  dupes  with  pre- 
posterous fictions  as  to  coming  aid. 

It  is  difficult  to  describe,  or,  indeed,  even 
to  find  out,  how  far-reaching  is  this  bogey 
of  intervention.  Nothing  but  complete  con- 
quest will  wipe  out  the  lesson  taught  by 
Gladstone's  cave-in  after  Majuba. 

Three  days  ago  a  Dutchman  called  on  a 
friend  of  mine.  After  the  usual  long  hot 
argument,  my  friend  said  :  "  You  must  know 
that  the  game  is  up ;  why  don't  you  all  work 
for  peace  and  get  the  commandos  called  in, 
and  settle  down  quietly." 

He  replied  :  "  No,  Mr  • .  I  am  not 

such  a  fool.  How  can  we  rely  on  the  British 
Government  ?  Did  not  a  British  officer  tell  us 
once  that  as  sure  as  the  morrow's  sun  would 
rise,  so  surely  would  England  retain  the 
Transvaal  ?  Soon  after,  a  few  soldiers  were 
beaten  in  a  skirmish,  and  your  Government 
handed  back  the  Transvaal ! 

"  If  I  now  worked  for  peace,  and  England 
in  the  meantime  listens  to  any  terms  but 
unconditional  surrender — then,  when  peace 
comes,  I  might  as  well  go  and  hang  myself 
as  stay  in  this  country  and  submit  to  the 
inevitable  boycott." 


64  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

That  the  war  did  not  end  a  year  ago, 
we  have  to  thank  that  cowardly  surrender 
after  Majuba.  This  widespread  feeling  alone 
is  a  sad  hindrance  in  our  way ;  at  the  same 
time  it  indicates  that  from  the  day  war  closes, 
a  large  proportion  will  be  only  too  thankful 
to  settle  down  again,  while  much  of  the 
threatened  "eternal  race-hatred"  will  vent 
itself,  in  rage  against  the  handful  of  rascals 
who  instigated  the  ignorant  Boer  of  the  veldt 
to  defy  the  British  Government,  and  to 
invade  British  territory.  Do  not  think  that 
this  is  too  optimistic  a  view.  The  races  will 
pull  together  well  enough  after  the  war. 

The  curse  of  the  whole  position  is,  that 
an  entire  generation  of  Africanders  has  grown 
up  in  the  fixed  belief,  that  England  will  cave-in 
sooner  or  later  to  pressure. 

They  are  much  perplexed  that  the  Liberals 
have  not  yet  got  into  office,  and  have  not 
given  back  the  Transvaal !  Their  ideas 
of  English  parties  are  of  the  crudest 
possible. 

Separation    of   East    and    West. — I     send 

report   of  's   (mentioning   a    prominent 

politician)    speech.     On   this  first  occasion  of 
the  sort,  he  speaks  against  separation  of  East 


THE  BRANDY  INTEREST  65 

and  West.  This  is  simply  the  old  game  of 
meeting  the  Bond  half-way — to  say  nothing 
of  the  disinclination  of  every  man,  when  once 
in  office,  to  curtail  the  sphere  of  his  power. 
The  home  press,  I  suppose,  have  not  the 
faintest  idea  of  all  that  is  involved  in  the 
separation  question.  Till  that  step  is  carried 
out,  the  brandy  distiller  of  the  Cape  district, 
with  his  ally  the  Dutch  parson,  will  hold  a 
casting  vote  on  all  Cape  Colony  politics,  and 
will  still  have  the  whip-hand  and  be  a 
trouble  to  every  Governor  and  High  Com- 
missioner. 

The  artificial  union  of  East  and  West  is 
an  absurdity.  Why  should  the  sheep  farmer 
of  the  East  be  tied  against  his  will  to  the 
brandy  distiller  of  the  West,  always  to  be 
just  out-voted  by  him  ?  With  the  result  that 
bread-stiiffs,  (which  the  East  cannot  produce 
in  quantity),  are  heavily  taxed,  while  the  brandy 
of  the  West  goes/ree  of  excise,  and  its  cheap- 
ness, (some  years  is.  per  bottle),  is  the  curse 
of  the  whole  Kaffir  race — the  labour  market 
of  the  Eastern  provinces. 

The  need  of  " separation"  was  recognised 
sixty  years  ago,  and  the  struggle  of  the  East 
to  obtain  it  grew  hotter  and  hotter,  till 


66  LETTERS  FROM  AN  U1TLANDER 

Responsible  Government  was  forced  on  them 
against  their  will,  finally  placing  all  power  in 
the   hands    of  the    territorial    Western   party, 
which  then  broke  the  power   of  the   East  by 
creating    jealousy    between     Port     Elizabeth, 
Grahamstown,  and  East  London,  by  alternate 
"sops"    to   harbours  and  other  public  works. 
The    Eastern    province,    if    separate,    would 
have   proved   as    British    as    Natal,    with    its 
seat  of  Government  in  a  town  as  English  as 
Melbourne.       This    would    have   changed    the 
whole  face  of  South  Africa.     The  two  central 
colonies,   British,  would  have  cut  the  ground 
from    under    the    anti- British    districts,    and 
have   divided   them   from    the    Dutch    states. 
This  fact  (though   not  its  future  importance) 
was    felt   at    the    time.        But    then,    English 
ministers    did    not    care    a    straw   about    the 
Cape,  and  quietly  looked  on,  while  all  power 
was    being     centralised     in    the     most     anti- 
British    town    of    the    Colony — although    the 
capital. 

The  whole  thing  would  sound  like  fiction, 
were  we  not  so  familiar  with  the  absurdities 
which  for  a  century  have  marked  British 
rule  in  South  Africa.  The  time  for  half 
measures  has  passed.  We  shall  be  just  as 


MEETING  THE  BOND  HALF-WAY  67 

much    abused    for    the    half    as    the    whole 
measure. 

For  twenty  years,  Cape  ministers  have  met 
the  Bond  half-way,  with  the  result  of  the 
biggest  war  since  Waterloo.  Suspension  of 
the  Constitution  would  have  been  an  immense 
blessing,  till  new  men  and  fresh  blood  came 
to  the  surface. 

Pandering  to  Dutch  prejudice  would  be  a 
huge  piece  of  folly.  A  firm,  vigorous  policy 
would  now  make  more  friends  than  enemies. 
Friendly  Dutch  and  waverers  fear  vacillation 
much  more  than  firmness,  which  would  be 
heartily  welcomed. 

I  believe  that  one  cause  of  the  doubt  so 
widely  entertained  of  England's  firmness,  is 
the  frequency  of  cables  of  speeches  of  leading 
politicians  at  home,  in  which  the  statement 
is  made  that:  '•''England  is  determined  to  see 
the  thing  through." 

The  so  frequent  reiteration  of  what  should 
be  a  matter  of  course,  is  most  undesirable. 
A  frequent  comment  is:  "Yes — before  the 
war,  one  heard  for  months,  by  cables,  that 
so-many  troops  were  ready  to  sail  at  a  day's 
notice." — I  remain,  yours  sincerely. 


68  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 


CAPE  TOWN, 
2nd  January  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — The  ignoring  by 
the  Africanders  of  the  great  anti- British  plot 
is  a  piece  of  stupendous  effrontery,  I  should 
say,  without  a  parallel. 

I  enclose  newspaper  cutting  deprecating 
withdrawal  of  Constitution.  Very  few  away 
from  the  capital  hold  this  view,  and  most 
loyalists  here,  I  believe,  regard  its  suspension 
as  desirable,  as  they  also  do  the  division 
of  Eastern  and  Western  Provinces  of  Cape 
Colony.  A  great  number  of  neutrals  have 
come  over  to  us,  including  such  as  are  merely 
sitting  on  the  fence  ;  but  there  is  a  small  party 
as  irreconcilable  as  ever,  and  as  determined  to 
obstruct  and  give  trouble  in  future.  Strange 
to  say,  these  men  have  felt  the  war  less  than 
any  of  their  friends,  some  having  done  very 
well  and  become  rich  by  it. 

I  am  very  sorry  to  hear  from  those  return- 
ing from  Transvaal,  that  the  Continentals  are 
more  rabid  than  ever.  On  the  quiet,  though, 
for  under  martial  law  they  have  to  be  cautious. 
The  Continental  element  has  been  a  disturbing 


CROWN  COLONY  OFFICIALS  69 

one  for  years.  Next  to  the  Hollander  and 
Dutch  Reformed  Church  parson,  the  German 
doctor  (often  holding  the  Government  appoint- 
ment of  District  Surgeon)  has  been  a  centre 
of  disaffection  in  the  Colony. 

With  all  these  combustible  elements,  what 
folly  to  attempt  Responsible  Government  in 
Cape  Colony,  where  perhaps  half  the  popula- 
tion is  avowedly,  at  this  moment,  hoping  that 
every  month's  protraction  of  war  may  give 
rise  to  foreign  intervention,  and  give  strength 
to  openly  disloyal  English  political  parties. 

Crown  Colony  rule  would  be  an  unmixed 
blessing,  if  only  judicious  appointments  (if 
any)  were  made  from  Downing  Street. 

This  may  seem  too  self-evident  to  need 
mention.  I  have  seen  some  English  officials 
and  military  men  with  wonderful  tact  and 
power  of  adapting  themselves  to  their  sur- 
roundings, while  another  is  all  red  tape  and 
dignity,  and  gives  a  man  from  the  veldt  the 
idea  that  he  has  dropped  across  a  being  from 
another  planet.  This  may  seem  a  mere  social 
triviality,  but  it  often  proves  to  be  much  more, 

though  not  many  men  would  (like )  send 

a  patriarchal  Boer  farmer  into  his  kitchen  for 
a  feed,  to  the  latter's  immense  disgust.  Many, 


70  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

on  coming  in  contact  with  colonists,  who 
perhaps  are  not  overburdened  with  deference 
to  official  position,  adopt  a  certain  wooden 
stand-off  style  to  start  with,  which  just  makes 
their  duties  arduous,  where  they  might  have 
been  pleasant. 

There  is  a  difficult  task  before  many  officials 
at  a  time  like  the  present.  Not  mere  talent 
will  do — they  must  be  considerate  men  towards 
all  —  patriotic,  and  above  all  partisan  feeling, 
and  must  not  talk  on  the  racecourse  or  cricket 
field  about  "  these  Colonials "  and  "  these 
Africanders." 

Many  think  that  if  party  government  must 
continue,  Rhodes  is  the  only  strong  man  here ; 
and  yet  many,  while  admitting  this,  affect  to 
entertain  some  lurking  fear  of  De  Beers  Com- 
pany and  the  Chartered  Company.  I  merely 
quote  an  opinion  which  I  don't  myself  see  the 
force  of,  and  of  which  I  doubt  the  sincerity.— 
I  remain,  yours  truly. 


EVIDENCES  OF  BOER  AIMS  71 


(Letter  from  a  friend  to  the  writer  of  these 
letter s>  enclosed  in  the  last.) 

$th  December  1901. 

Dear    Mr .  .  .  There    is  no    moral 

doubt  of  the  intention  of  the  South  African 
Dutch  to  create  a  Republic  from  Cape  Town 
to  the  Zambesi ;  but  the  Transvaal  and  the  Free 
State  Governments  were  so  "slim"  that  legal 
proof  is  scanty.  Their  intention  dated  from 
the  Retrocession  of  1880.  The  establishment 
of  the  Africander  Bond  and  its  foundation 
principles  ;  the  confession  of  Mr  Reitz  (then 
a  judge  in  the  late  Orange  Free  State)  to 

Mr ,  that  the  unification  of  South  Africa 

under  its  own  flag  was  the  objective  of  the 
Bond ;  the  published  report  of  conferences 
between  the  late  Sir  John  Brand  and  Mr 
Kruger  on  the  subject  of  "closer  union," 
(where  Mr  Kruger  bluntly  refers  to  Great 
Britain  as  "our  enemy");  the  attempt  to 
commandeer  British  subjects  to  fight  the 
Transvaal's  battles  in  1894;  the  construction 
of  the  Delagoa  Bay  railway  ;  the  matter  of 
closing  of  the  Drifts  at  Vereeniging ;  the 


72  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

clauses  in  the  Netherland  Railway  Concession, 
referring  to  the  mutual  relations  of  Govern- 
ment and  the  Company  "  in  the  event  of 
war "  ; — all  these,  and  many  other  actions  as 
well  known  to  you  as  to  me,  prove  the  ineradi- 
cable hatred  of  and  contempt  for  our  country, 
which  (joined  with  the  open  boasting  indulged 
in  by  the  "  young  Africander  "  party  in  Pretoria 
long  before  the  Raid)  pointed  surely  to  war,  in 
the  event  of  Great  Britain  resolving  at  least  to 
hold  her  own  in  South  Africa.  With  regard 
to  pre-Raid  preparations  in  the  Cape  Colony, 
they  must  have  been  conducted  with  extra- 
ordinary secrecy. 

I  am  convinced,  that  if  the  Raid  was  not 
encouraged  by  the  admirable  Secret  Service 
of  the  Pretoria  Government,  the  plans  and 
intentions  of  Dr  Jameson  and  his  colleagues 
were  perfectly  understood  at  Pretoria,  and 
that  thus  the  Pretoria  Government  was  an 
accessory  before  the  fact.  This  is  no  mere 
conjecture.  I  knew  of  Dr  Jameson's  mobilisa- 
tion plans  at  Pitsani  long  befor^  they  were 
generally  known,  and  of  the  fact  that  Pretoria 
"was  keeping  an  eye  on  him."  Mr  Kruger's 
parable  of  the  tortoise  and  his  head  was  the 
expression  of  a  literal  truth,  except  that  the 


KRUGER  AWARE  OF  JAMESON'S  PLANS?     73 

"head"  meant  not  only  Johannesburg,  but  the 
forces  of  the  British  South  African  Company 
as  well. 

The  communications  between  "  Doctor  Jim  " 
and  the  Reform  Committee  were  known  ;  and 
the  widespread  belief  that  Dr  Jim's  force  came 
in  when  they  did,  on  account  of  his  receipt  of 
a  "  bogus  "  telegram,  is  certainly  more  likely  to 
be  true  than  untrue.  The  withdrawal  of  the 
Government  police  from  Johannesburg  days 
before  the  Raid,  and  the  sudden  and  efficient 
way  in  which  the  burghers  were  armed  in 
Pretoria  in  enormous  numbers,  prove  Mr 
Kruger's  parable  to  have  been  no  empty  boast : 
whilst  his  ludicrous  attempt  to  get  up  another 
"  Conspiracy  by  British  Officers  at  Johannes- 
burg," during  the  negotiations  on  the  Franchise 
which  followed  the  Bloemfontein  Conference, 
proves  how  well  the  "  Conspiracy  "  of  1895-1896 
paid  him,  not  only  financially,  but  in  the  moral 
support  and  sympathy  of  the  outside  world, 
and  in  the  excuse  it  supplied  him  with  for 
arming  to  the  teeth. 


K 


74  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 


CAPE  TOWN, 
I5//Z  January  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — I  send  Cape  Times 
of  I4th  January  1902,  with  Lord  Milner's 
speech,  in  case  English  papers  do  not  give  it 
in  extenso.  In  analysing  such  speeches,  the 
home  press  does  not  always  seize  just  the 
points  that  tell  most  here. 

In  the  present  case  there  are  two  points  in 
which  Lord  M.,  with  his  happy  knack,  has 
clothed  truisms  in  new  colours,  and  made  many 
men  think  on  the  subject. 

i st.  One  is,  that  the  pro- Boer  has  no  interest 
in  any  Boer  unless  he  happens  to  be  fighting 
against  the  British,  and  counts  for  nought  the 

thousands  of  loyal  Boers  like  • — ,  who  for 

years  have  been  trying  to  oppose  the  anti- 
British  propaganda. 

2nd.  Another  point  brought  out,  on  which 
the  average  speaker  or  writer  rarely  comments, 
is,  that  there  is  not  now,  and  never  has  been, 
an  anti-Dutch  party  in  South  Africa.  The 
hostility  has  been  solely  on  one  side.  This 
simple,  well-known  truth  has  never  been  so 
concisely  put  before.  It  is  a  pity  that  Lord 


NO  ANTI-DUTCH  PARTY  IN  SOUTH  AFRICA   75 

M.  did  not  add  that  it  was  not  a  popular 
movement,  forced  by  the  Boer  people  on  their 
rulers,  but  a  propaganda  sedulously  and  in- 
cessantly cultivated  by  politicians,  and  instilled 
into  the  rural  population  by  officials  and 
certain  Dutch  parsons. 

The  second  item  is  one  of  the  highest 
importance.  It  is  fortunate  it  was  not  a 
national  movement,  or  race  feeling  would  be 
terrible,  whereas  everything  tends  to  show 
that  the  Boer  of  the  veldt,  when  his  eyes  are 
opened  in  captivity,  is  often  more  bitter  against 
the  agitators  who  misled  him,  than  against  us. 

I  wish  that and (mentioning 

two  prominent  English  pro- Boers)  would  realise 
the  contempt  in  which  they  are  held  by  all  loyal 
colonists.  The  thousands  of  colonists  who 
only  know  England  by  report  cannot  under- 
stand the  position,  and  suppose  either  that  there 
is  a  "bee  in  the  bonnet,"  or  that  Leyds'  secret 
fund  accounts  for  it :  two  things  equally  wide 
of  the  truth.  What  they  cannot  understand 
is,  how  a  man,  for  party  purposes,  can  so 
deceive  himself  and  betray  his  country. 

To  recall  Milner  would  be  like  cashiering 
Wellington  after  Waterloo. 

When  the  loyal  Dutch  and  others  feel  safe 


76  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

in  speaking  out,  without  risk  of  boycott,  some 
startling  facts  must  come  out,  and  I  imagine 
that  it  will  be  made  clear  that  the  English 
pro- Boer  has  added  many  millions  to  the 
national  debt,  and  has  caused  sad  loss  of  life. 

That  such  men  as  these  two  ENGLISH  pro- 
Boers  have  any  following  at  all,  causes  a  very 
undesirable  impression  among  all  colonial-born 
loyalists,  who  cannot  rightly  estimate  the 
smallness  of  their  minority,  when  their  sayings 
constantly  figure  in  cables. 

Men  ask,  "  How  can  we  hang  our  rebels, 
when  traitors  sit  in  the  House  of  Commons  ?  " 

The  inconsistencies  and  factiousness  of 
English  parties  show  up  very  unpleasantly. 

An  everyday  question  is — "  How  is  it  that 
Exeter  Hall  and  its  following  in  the  House, 
all  abused  the  Dutch  as  'nigger-drivers,'  and 
then,  directly  the  Dutch  become  our  enemies, 
the  charge  is  withdrawn  and  laid  against 
British  colonists  ?  " 

One  cannot  help  seeing  that  there  are 
serious  doubts  growing  in  the  minds  of 
colonists  as  to  the  genuineness  of  home  politics. 
The  rabid  Africander,  of  course,  heartily 

chuckles  at  's  *  neurotic  talk,  and  sup- 

*  An  English  politician. — B.  C.  F. 


BOERS'  MORAL  SUPPORT  FROM  LONDON    77 

poses  that  at  the  last  minute  of  the  eleventh 
hour,  England  may  again  be  bamboozled,  and 
commit  some  monstrous  absurdity.  Hence 
the  word  goes  forth  from  the  headquarters  to 
the  Boer  in  the  field,  to  wreck  and  plunder  to 
the  very  last. 

The  Boers'  moral  support  comes  from 
London  as  well  as  from  Brussels* 

In  healthier  days,  when  there  was  less 
spurious  sentiment  and  sham  political  morality, 
the  little-Englander  leader  would  have  been 
tarred  and  feathered,  a  healthy  demonstration 
which  would  do  good  now,  and  which  requires 
no  explanation  to  make  it  understood. — I 
remain,  Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  yours  truly. 

P.S. — After  closing  my  letter,  I  thought  I 
would  add  that  I  have  always  feared,  that  the 
home  press  has  never  had  presented  to  it  the 
fact,  that  the  loyal  Dutch  form  a  very  im- 
portant section  of  our  population.  The  corre- 
spondent from  home,  a  stranger  to  the  country, 
neither  sees  nor  hears  anything  of  them. 
From  the  nature  of  the  case  they  have  to  lie 
low,  and  very  low  at  present,  till  all  is  settled. 

*  Boer  leaders  have  actually  stated  as  much  to  English 
officers.— B.  C.  F. 


78  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

The  anti- British  Boer  party  never  understood 
freedom  of  speech  or  even  of  thought.  If  you 
are  suspected  of  differing  from  them,  you  must 
be  boycotted  and  slighted  on  every  occasion. 
I  know  Dutchmen  in  this  town  who  were 
prepared  to  clear  out  of  the  country  of  their 
birth  for  good,  had  the  Boers  got  the  best  of 
it,  or  had  we  made  another  bungling  settle- 
ment ;  and  these  men  say  they  represent 
thousands  of  their  race. 

The  intelligent  class  know  that  the  war 
was  not  for  independence,  but  to  establish 
Krugerism  throughout  South  Africa,  and  to 
restore  in  the  twentieth  century  all  the  evils  of 
privilege  and  class  legislation,  which  in  the 
sixteenth  century  Englishmen  fought  to  over- 
throw. Is  there  anything  more  comic  in  history 
than  to  find  men  in  England,  whose  forefathers 
stood  side  by  side  with  Pym  and  Hampden, 
attempting  in  this  century  to  perpetuate  or  to 
restore  all  that  was  vilest  in  the  system  of  the 
Stuarts  or  the  Bourbons ! 

Loyalists  of  both  races  all  see  it  in  the  same 
light,  and  wonder  that  such  fantastic  cranks 
should  get  any  following  at  all,  or  have  any 
power  in  national  affairs  at  home.  V  would 
be  a  step  in  the  right  direction,  if  one  of  your 


THE  LOYAL  DUTCH  79 

papers  would  call  public  attention  to  the  fact, 
that  the  pro- Boer  is  only  the  special  pleader 
for  our  enemies,  while  large  and  increasing 
parties  of  loyal  Dutch  find  him  as  great  a 
nuisance  as  we  do. 

The  matter  only  needs  to  be  clearly  stated 
for  the  public  to  realise  the  absurdity  of  the 
pro- Boer  position,  which  hitherto  scarcely 
seems  to  have  been  attacked  from  this  point. 


2$>th  January  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — The  more  vigorous 
tone  adopted  by  politicians  at  home  is  doing 
good ;  I  mean  morally.  Waverers  begin  to 
think  it  will  be  safe  to  be  loyal!  this  time.  Of 
course,  a  generation  or  two  of  Africanders  have 
grown  up  in  the  belief,  that  England  never 
quite  knew  what  she  meant  to  do,  and  that  if 
she  did,  she  was  bound  to  fly  off  at  a  tangent 
as  a  result  of  local  party  fights  at  home,  or  be 
bamboozled  by  spurious  philanthropists  and 
humbugs  of  every  description.  The  town 
Africanders  used  to  give  deliciously  graphic 
accounts  to  admiring  bucolic  friends,  of  how 
Liberals  and  "Jingos"  would  always  pull 
different  ways,  and  enable  the  slim  Africander 


80  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

to  come  out  top.  Their  enormous  armaments 
hardly  gave  them  more  confidence  than  their 
firm  conviction  that  what  Gladstone  did  after 
Majuba  would  be  repeated  whenever  they  next 
came  to  blows. 


GUERILLA  WARFARE 

In  one  of  the  Reviews  there  is  an  article 
in  which  the  writer  attributes  the  recrudes- 
cence of  German  Anglophobia  to  their  dis- 
covery that  the  war  which  they  thought  was 
ending  is  still  in  an  active  stage.  Again, 
we  find  some  Englishmen  still  talk  about 
making  terms  with  the  enemy,  and  we  hear 
reference  made  to  the  necessity  of  treating 
with  "properly  accredited"  representatives  of 
the  enemy.  On  the  other  hand,  I  cannot  learn 
(with  my  limited  opportunities)  whether  or  not 
any  papers  take  the  stand  that  no  accredited 
Boer  representatives  exist,  at  any  rate  in  the 
field.  And  they  do  not.  General  Botha  is 
personally  a  decent  man,  one  of  their  best 
specimens,  and  among  his  commando  are  said 
to  be  many  fair  samples  of  Boers.  But  a 
scratch  troop  of  farmers,  many  of  whom  are 


GUERILLA  WARFARE  81 

only  in  the  field  by  compulsion,  can't  speak  for 
a  people.  Some  of  the  other  commandos,  I 
hear  from  those  (some  of  them  prisoners  of  war 
on  parole)  who  have  come  in  contact  with  them, 
are  to  a  great  extent  made  up  of  wasters  and 
blackguards  of  all  nations — who  would  have 
no  vote  in  time  of  peace.  They  enjoy  the  life 
in  the  veldt  and  the  plundering  of  farm-houses, 
Dutch  as  well  as  English.  The  foreign 
element  is  not  a  shade  better  than  Greek 
brigands,  though  raised  to  the  rank  of  heroes 
by  seditious  Africanders  and  their  allies,  the 
little  Englanders. 

This  disreputable  rabble  English  pro- Boer 
politicians  and  their  friends  are  abetting,  in 
the  slaughter  of  lonely  outposts,  the  murder  of 
Kaffirs,  and  the  plunder  of  farm-houses.  Many 
of  the  enemy,  still  in  the  field  of  their  own  free- 
will, dorit  want  peace.  They  have  nothing  to 
lose ;  and  to  them  peace  would  mean  giving  up 
their  horse  and  returning  to  day  labourers' 
work,  or  becoming  the  "mean  white"  or 
hanger-on  about  a  homestead,  a  specimen  of 
which  you  generally  find  with  a  farmer.  This 
nondescript  gets  his  food  and  bed,  and  does 
any  odd  work  that  turns  up,  and  in  the 

intervals  lounges  about  smoking.     These  men 

L 


82  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

are     now     posing     as     liberators     and     free 
lances. 

Such,  with  the  addition  of  the  Continental 
mercenaries,  constitute  a  most  objectionable 
element ;  and,  should  Government  be  so  weak 
as  to  make  any  terms  with  Botha  (putting  this 
case  by  way  of  illustration),  these  roving  com- 
mandos would  have  to  be  wiped  out  all  the 
same  by  our  troops — just  as  the  mounted 
robbers  in  Algeria  had  to  be  by  the  French. 
It  is  a  police  matter,  though  on  a  lamentably 
large  scale.  The  majority  of  the  respectable 
portion  of  the  race  are  prisoners  in  our  hands, 
many  of  whom  are  now  perfectly  aware  of  how 
they  have  been  led  astray  and  duped  by  their 
leaders.  With  many  fine  qualities,  they  com- 
bine a  certain  cunning,  and  disregard  for  the 
obligations  of  an  oath.  But  for  certain  defects 
and  failings,  these  would  now  be  invaluable  allies 
in  ending  the  war,  and  many  thousands  would 
willingly  join  us.  They  are  sick  of  the  deten- 
tion, and  know  well  the  objects  of  the  thieving 
rabble  now  so  numerous  in  the  field.  Among 
the  Boers  there  is  some  of  the  fine  raw 
material  of  the  old  Batavian  stock,  and  they 
will  yet  live  comfortably  beside  us,  when  the 
Dutch  parson  and  the  German  doctor  of  the 


BOER  STOLIDITY  83 

up-country  dorp  find,  that  fomenting  and 
cultivating  sedition  is  not  to  be  a  paying  game 
any  longer. 

There  are  strange  compensations  in  nature. 
These  stolid,  bucolic  folk,  if  they  have  not 
the  highest  enjoyments  of  life,  do  not  feel 
its  pains  acutely.  Kruger's  system  brought 
many  Boers  in  from  living  on  their  broad 
acres,  to  menial  life  in  town.  But  the  come- 
down did  not  seem  to  trouble  them,  if  they 
only  got  enough  bread  and  meat  and  coffee. 
I  think  I  told  you  that  a  friend  of  mine  saw 
some  Dutch  women  busy  making  money  by 
selling  (I  think)  ginger  beer,  to  the  troops. 
A  Boer  came  along  and  said,  "  Well,  Mrs 

,  and  where  is  the  old  baas  ? "  The 

reply  was,  in  an  unconcerned  manner,  "  Well, 
I  don't  know,  but  I  expect  if  he  is  not  shot 
he  is  at  St  Helena." 

Among  the  more  regrettable  conditions,  thus 
far,  is  the  fact  that  the  greatest  sufferers  have 
been  the  Free  Staters,  the  most  enlightened 
Boers  of  South  Africa,  and,  generally  speaking, 
fairly  friendly  to  the  English. 

The  most  rabidly  anti- British  set  in  South 
Africa,  who  live  in  Cape  Town  and  district, 
have  done  well  by  the  war.  They  have  been 


84  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

getting   double   rentals   and    high    prices    for 
produce. 

As  I  have  said  before,  the  irreconcilables  are 
not  our  vanquished  enemies,  but  must  be  looked 
for  among  the  smart  Africander  attorneys, 
parsons,  doctors,  and  more  doubtful  town 
residents,  who  are,  many  of  them,  as  much 
bent  on  mischief  as  before  the  relief  of  Lady- 
smith.  As  I  said,  the  general  crowd  of  neutral 
and  disloyal,  are,  as  a  rule,  toning  down  con- 
siderably, and  many  are  now  convinced  that 
the  loyal  side  is  the  safe  and  prudent  one. 
The  best  informed  cannot  estimate  the  rela- 
tive proportions.  But  the  old  virulent, 
rancorous  anti- British  coterie  is  still  extant, 
and  looks  forward  to  making  things  hot  by 
parliamentary  tactics,  though  their  mouths 
are  closed  under  martial  law,  fortunately. 
It  is  these  men  that  we  have  to  guard 
against.  It  is  they  who  to-day  try  to 
foster  discord  and  anarchy.  Picture  to 
yourself  a  leader  of  the  Dutch  Reformed 
Church  saying  that  he  was  "loyal  by  com- 
pulsion ! " 

The  one  way  to  stamp  out  this  century-old 
nucleus  of  disaffection  is  to  show  its  utter 
futility  by  a  steady  course  of  action.  And  of 


THE  IRRECONCILABLES  85 

course  judicious  immigration  at  a  proper  date 
is  bound  to  swamp  it. 

In  the  prison  camps  we  have  an  opportunity 
that  will  never  recur,  of  giving  wholesome 
instruction ;  and  I  should  have  thought  that 
useful  expressions  of  opinion  might  have  been 
obtained  from  representative  prisoners  of 
war. 

If  at  St  Helena  there  is  no  classification,  and 
the  Continental  agitator  associates  through  all 
the  idle  day  with  the  simple  ignorant  Boer,  it 
is  a  great  misfortune. 

The  small  amount  of  talk  about  the  increas- 
ing debt — in  England — is  wonderful.  They 
will,  of  course,  be  able  to  recoup  themselves  to 
a  very  great  extent — more,  I  suppose,  than  the 
average  Englishman  guesses. 

I  think  I  mentioned  that  men  from  the  new 
states  have  told  me,  that  there  was  intense 
bitterness  against  us  on  the  part  of  many 
Continental  residents,  though  they  have  for 
the  present  to  repress  themselves. — I  remain, 
yours  truly. 


86  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 


$th  February  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — I  write  chiefly  to 
enclose  leading  newspaper  articles. 

The  writer  of  the  articles,  though  speaking 
strongly  on  separation  of  East  and  West  halves 
of  Cape  Colony,  might  have  gone  further. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  had  separation  been 
carried  through  thirty  years  ago,  it  would 
utterly  have  broken  the  power  for  ever  of  the 
anti- British  party,  or,  as  we  called  it  in  old 
days,  the  Cape  Town  party,  which  was  not 
then  a  racial  one.  Responsible  Government 
was  grudgingly  accepted  by  some  in  the  East 
of  Cape  Colony,  on  the  grossly  false  representa- 
tion that  it  was  to  be  the  prelude  to  separation  ; 
whereas,  in  truth,  the  very  central  idea  and  aim 
of  its  supporters  was  to  prevent  the  dreaded 
separation,  by  a  redistribution  of  electoral 
districts,  so  arranged  as  to  neutralise  and 
swamp  the  vote  of  the  districts  chiefly 
British.  This  was  at  the  bottom  of  the 
whole  business." 

The  active  politicians  of  those  days  have  for 
the  most  part  disappeared,  and  the  crowd  are 
apathetic.  Even  now,  late  as  it  is,  were 


RESPONSIBLE  GOVERNMENT  87 

separation  effected,  it  would  do  more  than 
aught  else  to  break  the  power  of  the 
Bond. 

In  those  days,  Boer  as  well  as  British 
farmers  in  the  Eastern  province,  cursed  the 
Cape  Town  party  as  the  ruin  of  their  native 
labour  through  untaxed  brandy. 

"  Responsible  Government,"  when  it  did 
go  through,  was  carried  desperately.  .  .  . 

But  South  Africa  was  then  a  Cinderella  to 
the  British  people,  which  was  deaf  to  all 
warning,  and  whose  eyes  were  closed  to  the 
threatening  signs  which  should  have  been 
visible  to  any  schoolboy. 

We  became  heart-sick,  and  then  got  accus- 
tomed to  a  state  of  things  which  we  were 
powerless  to  work  against — and  (as  99  out 
of  100  did  in  the  Transvaal)  men  began  to 
argue:  "We  may  magnify  evils  ahead,  as  the 
British  Government  is  no  new  hand  at 
diplomacy,  and  must  know  more  than  we  do." 
Lady  Anne  Barnard's  letters  show,  that 
much  of  the  same  foolery  was  going  on  even  a 
century  ago. 

I  jot  down  a  few  salient  points,  but  a  man 
whose  time  was  his  own  might  spend  it  all,  in 
showing  up  matters  which  the  uninitiated 


88  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

would    think  were   flights    into    the  realms    of 
fancy. — I  am,  yours  truly. 

12th  February  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — Crown  Colony  rule 
is  merely  one  of  several  alternatives.  But  the 
separation  of  East  and  West  is  very  different. 

By  a  separate  East  you  create  one  addi- 
tional loyal  state  in  South  Africa,  and  one 
whose  fiscal  policy  would  at  once  be  in  favour 
of  a  tax  on  Cape  brandy,  though  several 
generations  tried  in  vain  (except  for  a  brief 
interval)  to  get  an  Excise  Act  passed.* 

All  brandy  is  made  within  100  miles  of 
Cape  Town,  and  probably  the  bulk  of  it  is 
drunk  by  Kaffirs  in  the  Eastern  frontier. 
It  is  like  the  Indian  opium  trade  with 
China  in  old  days. 

No  one  now  arriving  here  can  appreciate 
how  large  a  part  the  Cape  brandy  interest  has 
played  in  Colonial  history — to  the  injury  of 
both  East  and  West.  As  long  as  it  pays  to 
drench  Eastern  Province  Kaffirs  with  cheap 
brandy,  we  shall  never  turn  out  wine  fit  for 
export. 

*  Such  an  Act  was  passed  by  Sir  Gordon  Sprigg's 
first  Ministry  in  1878,  and  again  by  his  Ministry  of  1884. 


EASTERN  PROVINCE  VIEWS  89 

Once  dissolve  the  enforced  partnership, 
between  the  Western  brandy  distiller  and  the 
Eastern  sheep  farmer,  and  each  will  make 
more  progress  than  ever  before. 

This  is  an  amusing  place  to  be  a  capital  of 
a  country,  for  there  is  no  other  place,  the 
people  of  which  know  or  care  so  little  about 
every  other  town  in  the  country,  while  certainly 
the  balance  of  its  influence  is  not,  and  never 
has  been,  thrown  into  the  British  scale.  Its 
traditions  are  all  the  other  way.  With  an 
Eastern  capital  at  Grahamstown  or  Queens- 
town,  you  would  have  a  new  centre  as 
distinctly  British  as  the  old  one  is  anti- 
British. 

Things  may  go  through  all  right ;  but  then, 
take  the  case  of  an  always  possible  European 
war  occurring,  we  should  then  be  thankful  for 
all  the  loyal  elements  we  could  count  on. 

The  "anti-calumny  meeting"  was  a  great 
success,  as  you  will  have  seen. 

Some  prophesied  that  Rudyard  Kipling 
would  be  received  with  groans,  after  the 
"  flannelled  fools  "  poem.  But,  amusing  to  tell, 
the  loudest  demonstration  of  the  evening  was 
the  call  on  Rudyard  Kipling  for  a  speech ! 

The  chairman  had  to  admit  with  reluctance 

M 


90  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

that  he  was  not  present.  The  next  greatest 
enthusiasm  was  a  similar  call  on  Mr  Rhodes, 
with  a  similar  result,  both  being  absent. 

I  have  not  forgotten  those  queries.  But 
down  here  I  am  out  of  touch,  and  can't  hear 
the  whereabouts  or  get  answers  from  the  men 
I  most  look  to. — I  remain,  yours  truly. 


LETTERS  FROM  THE  TRANSVAAL 
AGAIN 

7//&  March  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — That  refusal,  a 
few  weeks  back,  on  the  part  of  the  Home 
Government,  to  have  any  negotiations  with  the 
Hague  has  had  a  good  effect  here.  It  looked 
(the  Dutch  offer)  so  promising  and  plausible 
for  a  "thin  end  of  the  wedge,"  that  many 
English  feared  the  bait  would  be  caught 
at. 

Another  matter  for  congratulation,  is  the 
late  dropping  of  the  stereotyped  phrase  about 
"  determined  to  see  the  war  through,"  of  which 
I  spoke  before.  I  noticed  that  Mr  Chamber- 
lain in  his  speech  spoke  of  the  independence  of 
the  two  republics,  as  a  "  thing  of  the  past." 


"YOU  NEVER  KNOW  WHAT  MAY  TURN  UP"   91 

The  latter  way  of  putting  the  matter  sounds 
quite  another  thing,  and  does  not  suggest 
some  necessity  for  asserting  determination.  —  I 
remain,  yours  truly. 


March  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  —  The  course  of  the 
guerilla  war  is  necessarily  very  depressing  to  all. 

Perhaps  the  most  hopeful,  as  well  as  the  most 
exasperating,  fact,  is  the  smallness  of  the  force 
against  which  our  great  army  is  engaged  ;  and 
of  that  small  force  probably  half  would  be 
heartily  thankful  to  have  done  with  the  busi- 
ness ;  but  Boers  suspected  of  an  intention  to 
surrender  are  severely  dealt  with,  and  lynx- 
eyed  spies  are  ready  to  give  information  to 
their  commandants  of  any  word  uttered  on 
the  subject. 

From  men  who  have  chatted  with  Boers  on 
their  prospects  and  hopes,  the  cfne  idea  seems  to 
be,  "  You  never  know  what  may  turn  up"  They 
are  still  duped  into  believing  that  foreign 
intervention  is  quite  a  possibility,  while  their 
extraordinary  notions  of  home  political  parties 
are  such,  that  argument  is  useless.  It  would 
scarcely  be  flattering  to  the  Liberals  in  general, 
or  to  --  or  -  in  particular,  to  learn 


92  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

that,  not  only  at  the  Boer  camp  fires,  but  among 
Africanders  who  should  know  better,  they  are 
located  on  about  the  same  plane  as  the  Anglo- 
phobic French  and  German  writers. 

It  is  a  curious  fact,  that  among  the  Boers 
who  know  anything  at  all,  I  have  never  heard 
of  any  of  them  praising  the  men  who  are  now 
slandering  our  soldiers.  Some  time  back,  in 
Cape  Town,  a  few  young  Englishmen  and 
Dutchmen  were  carrying  on  a  half  serious,  half 
jocular  argument,  in  which  the  Dutch  were 
told  that  they  had  to  import  Leyds  and  other 
men,  and  had  never  produced  a  Salisbury  or  a 
Chamberlain  ;  and  a  Dutchman  drily  remarked, 

"  No,    and    we    never    produced    a    ' 

(mentioning  a  prominent  English  pro- Boer 
politician).  All  joined  in  the  laugh  which 
followed,  and  the  Dutchman  was  allowed  to 
have  scored  a  point. 

Though  the  numbers  of  the  enemy  are  small, 
the  class  of  men  is  most  unfortunate  to  deal 
with.  Though  we  see  a  few  "slim"  cunning 

leaders  like  ,  and  a  few  violent,  and  too 

often  ignorant,  men  undoubtedly  possessing 
personal  bravery,  yet  under  them  many  of  the 
rank  and  file  are  a  mere  Jack  Cade  rabble,  who 
have  nothing  to  lose  (and  never  had),  and  have 


SOCIAL  STATUS  OF  THE  GUERILLAS       93 

learnt  to  enjoy  the  life  of  plunder  and  lying  in 
ambush,  and  who  would  have  to  take  up 
menial  work  on  war  ending. 

They  are  useful  material  in  the  hands  of 
plotters,  who  stay  on  the  coast  at  ease,  and  of 
pro- Boers  at  home  and  on  the  Continent.  But 
they  don't  represent  the  respectable  Boer  or 
any  other  people.  And  yet  an  attempt  is 
made  to  represent  them  as  patriot  peasants, 
fighting  for  their  native  land,  as  did  the  Swiss. 
Never  was  there  a  greater  burlesque  of  a 
romantic  historical  incident. 

Men  who  enjoy  the  life  of  savages,  and  have 
no  respect  for  white  flags,  oaths,  or  anything  else 
that  is  sacred,  and  yet  quote  Mosaic  books  by 
the  yard,  possess  all  the  worst  qualities  of  both 
savage  and  civilised  life,  and  are  very  hard  to 
fight  or  to  make  friends  of. — I  remain,  yours 
sincerely. 


JOHANNESBURG, 
2$th  April  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — At  last  (a  week  ago) 
I  got  a  letter  from  one  of  the  two  men  I  spoke 
of.  I  believe  him  to  be  as  genuine  a  man  as 
there  is  in  the  country.  I  know  you  will 


94  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

understand  the  "brutal  candour."  You  may 
say  the  letter  contains  little  that  is  new — but 
I  think  he  puts  the  matter  so  well,  that  I  send 

a  copy.  ...  I  hoped  to  hear  from ,  but 

he  is  too  busy  in  the  field.  Though  the  writer 
of  enclosure  does  not  say  so,  I  quite  expect  that 
when  war  is  really  over,  any  amount  of  infor- 
mation will  be  obtainable  from  the  Boers 
themselves.  I  have  long  believed  this.  Even 
the  Boer  youths  knew  a  great  deal  that  was 
going  on  long  before  the  war,  but  they  kept 

very  "close."  A and  H met  them  as 

competitors  at  athletic  sports ;  and  though 
they  were  somewhat  imprudently  Jingo,  the 
Boer  youths  were  particularly  friendly  to 
them,  some  of  the  poor  fellows  begging  them 
to  go  to  their  farms  for  refuge,  before  what 
they  believed  would  be  our  hopeless  overthrow ! 
What  the  writer  of  enclosure  says  is  true,  to 
the  letter,  about  the  temper  of  old  Uitlanders. 

I  think  Providence  decreed  this  war,  perhaps 
for  the  saving  of  the  Empire,  in  some  crisis 
yet  to  come. 

The  stupid,  unsuspecting  confidence  or 
"  greenness "  of  the  home  authorities,  is  a 
source  of  disappointment  and  rage  to 
Britishers  here.  You  will  see  before  long 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  COLONIES  95 

that  a  great  awakening  will  come  to  a  certain 
idiotic  school  of  home  politicians,  of  the  com- 
placent, self-satisfied  order,  from  the  action  of 
the  Colonies. 

The  meeting  of  volunteers  here,  from  all 
the  Colonies,  has  sown  some  good  seed  that  will 
yield  a  hundred-fold.  These  "young  fellows" 
will  influence  their  seniors  on  returning.  Ten 
or  twelve  weeks  ago  down  in  the  Cape,  I  heard 
a  most  interesting  informal  discussion  in  a 
soldiers'  recreation  room.  Some  one  remarked, 
that  most  little  Englanders  belonged  to  certain 
religious  denominations  which  he  named. 
After  some  hot  disputing,  one  man  remarked, 
"We  care  nothing  about  the  politics  of  this  or 
that  creed,  but  it  is  high  time  that  the  Colonies 
had  a  voice  at  home,  and  that  their  great 
interest  should  no  longer  be  at  the  mercy  of 
fighters  over  some  petty  local  question  in  an 
English  county."  This  had  the  approval  of 
all,  and  you  often  hear  similar  opinions 
expressed,  among  Colonial  volunteers,  intelli- 
gent enough  to  have  any  opinions.  It  will  be 
a  happy  day  for  the  old  country  when  one  of 
her  own  statesmen  takes  the  initiative  in  this 
matter,  without  waiting  for  pressure  from 
without.  Colonial  representation  at  West- 


96  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

minster  would  stamp  out  that  unique  absurdity 
of  our  race  and  of  this  century — the  little 
Englander.  That  monstrosity  has  been  at  the 
same  time  the  mainstay  and  the  laughing  stock 
of  the  "Africander"  and  the  rebel. 


SEPARATION  OF  EAST  AND  WEST  OF  CAPE 
COLONY 

I  was  sorry  to  hear  what  I  did  as  to  opinion 
at  home.  Separation  is  our  trump  card  in  the 
Cape  Colony.  It  would  for  ever  break  the 
power  of  the  Cape  Town  Africander  party, 
which  has  been  a  thorn  in  the  side  to  every 
Governor  for  eighty  years  past.  Nor  is  this 
all.  You  would  enfranchise  the,  at  present, 
always  outvoted  British  minority  in  the  East, 
and  raise  up  an  almost  ultra- British  state. 
This  would  have  been  carried  out  thirty  years 
ago,  but  for  the  profound  apathy  of  the  Home 
Government  in  South  African  affairs,  and  we 
should  have  reaped  all  the  fruits  we  hope  to 
gain  from  this  terrible  war,  without  that  war. 
Happy-go-lucky  men  tell  you,  "It  is  all  right 
now."  For  all  that,  we  can't  afford  to  throw 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  THE  TRANSVAAL     97 

away  a  shot.  Lord  Milner  has  lost  his  great 
lieutenant,  to  whom  loyalists  of  both  races  were 
looking  for  a  special  work.  Six  years  ago  I 
barely  escaped  insult  for  holding  that  Rhodes 
was  the  one  great  South  African,  and  it  is 
but  small  consolation  to  note  the  revulsion  of 
feeling,  which,  after  our  great  loss,  sets  most 
men  wondering  who  is  to  take  his  place.  None 
of  his  subordinates  seem  to  inspire  the  public 
mind  with  any  enthusiasm,  but  we  must  hope 
that  some  one  will  rise  above  the  dead  level, 
and  convince  the  man  in  the  street  that  there 
are  other  objects  with  men  in  high  place, 
beside  mere  personal  or  party  ends. 

The  orderly  reconstruction  in  this  state 
seems  to  me  wonderful,  but  the  work  to  be 
done  is  gigantic,  and  the  state  of  things  is 
not  "all  butter  and  honey."  I  came  up  here 
expecting  to  find  rampant  John  Bullism,  but, 
to  my  surprise,  I  found  a  strange  suspicious 
attitude  and  misgiving  among  the  rank  and 
file,  and  an  idea  that  the  rich  man  was  going 
to  have  it  all  his  own  way,  to  the  disadvantage 
of  the  smaller  man.  Many  blamed  Khaki  and 
Martial  law  as  the  b£te  noir.  As  far  as  I  have 
seen,  martial  law  is  exercised  in  a  most 

courteous,    lenient    manner.     I    thought     the 

N 


98  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

apprehensions  were  mere  excitement,  when 
an  incident,  not  military,  but  merely  civil, 
occurred,  which  created  a  very  unpleasant 
impression.  ...  I  mention  this  to  show  how 
many  possible  sources  of  unrest  there  are. 

But  South  Africans,  whether  patriots  or 
traitors,  are  not  hasty  to  move,  and  we  must 
hope  peace  will  come,  and  then  the  people  will 
have  a  voice  again.  But  Lord  Milner's  post  is 
no  sinecure,  although  the  great  danger  is  past. 
I  take  it  he  is  too  prudent  a  man  to  allow 
heavy  burdens  to  be  placed  on  the  general 
public,  before  they  have  time  to  turn  round 
and  recover  themselves.  The  apprehension  on 
this  score  is  by  no  means  small.  Any  want  of 
leniency  would  have  a  most  disastrous  effect 
financially  and  politically,  and,  with  the  average 
man,  the  payment  of  a  pound  would  be  easier 
when  good  times  come  round  than  the  pay- 
ment of  half-a-crown  to-day.  I  hope  this  is 
realised  at  home,  by  the  men  who  naturally  are 
looking  to  the  Transvaal  to  share  cost  of  war. 
Nine  men  out  of  ten  are  now  more  or  less 
pushed  for  money,  but  when  peace  conditions 
again  return,  that  is,  when  the  population  and 
the  native  mine  labour  gets  back,  the  running 
will  be  very  rapid  indeed,  if  no  undue  burden 


PUBLIC  FEELING  ON  THE  RAND  99 

is  put  on  the  people  in  this  period  of  con- 
valescence after  emaciation  —  financial  and 
commercial,  etc. 

The  wealthy  few  look  on  complacently,  but 
to  the  many  it  is  a  question  of  life  or  death. 
There  is  always  the  fear  that  the  best  of 
rulers,  in  the  natural  course  of  things,  hear 
the  voice  of  the  latter  but  little,  and  an  opinion 
coming  from  one  of  the  former  is  always  under 
suspicion  of  self-interest. 

The  knowledge  that  such  a  man  as  Lord 
Milner  is  at  the  helm,  is  a  wonderful  sedative 
among  men  who,  rightly  or  wrongly,  fear 
grievances  and  doubt  the  probity  of  others. 
I  should  like  to  see  the  old  buoyant  spirit  of 
the  Rand  men  return. 

The  healthiest  symptom  is,  that  even  the 
less  hopeful  class  are  all  dead  against  accepting 
anything  but  unconditional  surrender,  and,  to 
a  man,  oppose  making  terms  for  rebels ;  of 
which  I  suppose  there  is  no  fear. 

Since  leaving  Cape  Town,  I  have  seen  and 
heard  next  to  nothing  of  the  Rebel  element, 
which  here  has  to  observe  a  discreet  silence. — 
I  am,  yours. 


100          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 


(Enclosure  in  preceding  letter?) 

i6th  April  1902. 

Dear  Mr ,  I  have  to  crave  your 

indulgence  for  my  long  delay  in  replying  to 
your  letter.  There  is  no  excuse  ;  but  perhaps 
you  will  understand  the  feeling  of  one  who  has 
borne  a  pretty  heavy  "  Uitlander"  burden  for 
the  past  five  very  strenuous  years — that,  for  a 
space  at  least,  the  dead  past  may  bury  its 
dead,  whilst  we,  who  have  sacrificed  so  much, 
take  the  opportunity  of  preparation  for  the 
coming  revival  of  business. 

Nothing  has  ever  satisfied  me,  as  evidence  of 
the  Boers  having  actually  "engineered"  the 
Raid,  though  the  presumption  is  very  strong. 
Kruger  assuredly  knew  the  Raid  was  being 
hatched — of  that  the  strongest  presumptive 
evidence  can,  later  on,  be  produced ;  how  far 
the  councils  of  the  conspirators  were  known  to 
him  has  not  been  revealed,  and  only  when  we 
know  who  was  the  "secret  informer,"  can  we 
guess  as  to  how  great  a  part  Kruger  played 
in  spoiling  the  Raid.  The  forts  were  arranged 
for  before  the  Raid. 


UITLANDERS  AND  BRITISH  POLITICIANS   101 

[At  the  time  the  Great  Treason  was  brewing, 
there  were  scores  of  men  with  their  fingers  on 
the  pulse  of  underground  Krugerism,  and  only 
too  keen  to  do  splendid  work  for  our  cause  ;  a 
little  encouragement,  and  the  knowledge  that 
the  importance  of  their  labours  was  recognised, 
would  have  ensured  the  accumulation  of  most 
vital  facts.  At  this  stage,  and  in  the  temper 
prevalent  among  the  most  strenuously  patriotic 
of  the  old  Uitlanders,  it  would  be  difficult  to 
induce  one  man  to  move  an  eyelash  for  the 
sake  of  British  politicians — or  for  the  Military, 
unless  there  was  substantial  pay  in  the  busi- 
ness. Pray  forgive  the  brutality  of  my  can- 
dour.] The  common  proverb,  "The  proof  of 
the  pudding  is  in  the  eating,"  seems  to  me  to 
apply  here  with  irresistible  force ;  the  condi- 
tion of  Africanderdom  just  before  and  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  war,  and  the  resistance  which  a 
"handful  of  poor  farmers"  has  put  up  against 
the  might  of  Great  Britain,  is  all  the  evidence 
a  sane  man  needs,  to  convince  him  of  the 
incessant  and  lengthy  organisation  that  must 
have  been  devoted,  to  the  great  conspiracy  for 
turning  the  British  out  of  South  Africa. 
British  politicians  may  go  to  the  deuce  for 
all  the  trouble  we  will  take  on  their  account. 


102          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

If  the  good  folks  at  home,  who  are  so  fond  of 
making  for  themselves  a  Fool's  Paradise,  and 
who  so  resent  its  being  demolished  by  the 
inexorable  logic  of  facts,  will  really  waken  to 
the  disagreeable  truth,  that  it  is  the  BRITISH 
OUTSIDE  BRITAIN  who  are  making  an  Empire, 
whilst  the  self-satisfied  STAY-AT-HOMES  delude 
themselves  they  are  ruling  an  Empire,  they 
will  recognise  that  the  men  who  have  been  for 
years  Empire-building,  are  the  best  fitted  to 
give  advice  about  the  ruling.  I  don't  think  it 
likely  the  authorities  will  get  much  valuable 
help  in  their  inquiries,  till  we  on  the  spot  have 
proof  that  our  opinions  are  to  be  listened  to  in 
regard  to  peace-terms  and  other  details,  that 
are  of  painfully  vital  moment  to  us  (who  with 
our  children  have  to  live  cheek  by  jowl  with 
the  Boers),  and  that  are  of  merely  vicarious 
importance  to  the  wiseacres  of  Westminster, 
and  the  politicians  whose  "be-all  and  end-all" 
are  the  winning  of  a  vote  or  two  in  ignorant 
constituencies. — Yours  very  faithfully. 


TRADE  AND  POLITICS  103 


BRITISH    TRADE 

JOHANNESBURG, 

2$th  May  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — You  may  think  I 
am  going  into  a  new  subject,  but  trade  and 
politics  are  now  interlaced  in  every  direction. 

We  all  tremble  when  we  think  of  the 
terrible  6th  January,  when  for  hours  the 
fate  of  the  Empire  hung  in  the  balance  on 
Wagon  Hill.  But  the  less  tragic  fact  of  the 
decay  of  trade,  or  rather  the  decline  of  increase 
as  compared  with  other  nations,  does  not  rouse 
Englishmen  as  it  ought  to.  The  Home  Press 
tries  to  explain  these  matters  away,  but  to 
every  one  outside  England  it  is  only  too  evident, 
that  the  United  States  are  walking  past  her, 
just  as  for  sixty  years  in  last  century  England's 
manufacturers  walked  past  those  of  the 
Continent.  She  has  been  worshipping  the 
fetish  of  Free-trade,  which  Americans  and 
Colonists  all  saw  to  be  a  played-out  game 
twenty  years  ago.  Nor  is  that  all.  Her 
manufacturers  seem  to  be  accepting  defeat 
and  resting  on  past  laurels,  like  a  retiring 


104  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

member  of  an  old  firm,  who  says,  "We  will 
give  the  young  fellows  a  chance."  With  the 
thousands  of  Colonists  at  home  now,  my  letter 
may  seem  superfluous,  but  among  august 
surroundings  they  may  not  speak  so  freely  as 
abroad.  German  competition  is  for  the  most 
part  "cheap  and  nasty,"  but  the  American  is 
too  often  cheap  and  superior.  All  right  is  fast 
collapsing  before  Go  a-head,  although  the  older 
motto  served  very  well  in  1851,  when  the  half 
occupied  space  applied  for  by  the  United 
States  at  the  Exhibition,  contained  little  beyond 
monster  blocks  of  soap,  timber  trophies,  and 
Ojibaway  curios. 

Do  you  know  that  in  the  last  ten  years, 
American  agricultural  implements  have  almost 
completely  ousted  the  English  here?  More 
recently  still,  much  of  the  large  trade  in 
cooking  utensils  has  gone  the  same  road. 
Many  places  still  keep  both,  because  there  are 
conservatives  even  in  the  choice  of  a  saucepan, 
but  the  majority  will  only  have  American ; 
besides  which,  the  English  imports  are 
suggestive  of  the  Spanish  Armada,  or  Noah's 
Ark. 

For  half  a  century  English  makers  have 
been  insisting,  that  their  axes  will  last  out  two 


OUR  TRADE  RIVALS  105 

American — but  Colonists  say,  "  We  don't  want 
a  mediaeval  battle-axe,  but  the  polished  slippery 
little  implement  of  the  Yankee  make."  The 
produce  of  Sheffield  and  Birmingham,  is  fast 
being  ousted  by  that  of  the  United  States. 
A  large  Cape  house  lately  asked  an  English 
manufacturer  for  a  quotation  for  one  hundred 
bee-hives,  of  a  pattern  of  which  a  drawing  was 
sent.  The  reply  came  that  the  pattern  was 
unknown — but  the  price  would  be  £ — ,  which 
was  more  than  they  would  sell  for  to  the  Cape 
Farmer ! 

The  order  was  then  sent  to  the  United 
States,  and  was  executed  promptly  and  cheaply. 
On  arrival,  the  importer  could  not  understand 
the  small  compass  of  the  package,  but  found 
that  the  bee-hives  all  took  to  pieces  and  lay 
flat,  and  could  be  put  together  in  a  few  minutes 
without  nails  or  glue  ;  were  exactly  to  order, 
and  far  more  natty  than  was  suggested.  An 
American  traveller  will  take  an  order  for  any- 
thing, but  an  English  one  fears  to  send  home 
an  order  deviating  in  any  trumpery  detail  from 
patterns  starting  a  century  ago.  During  the 
next  few  years,  the  Rand  will  order  mining 
machinery  of  a  value  of  many  millions,  but  of 
late  years  mining  machinery  has  nearly  all 


106          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

come  from  America.  How  is  it  that  

and  other  English  makers  can't  compete  in 
stamping  mills,  with  American  makers  ?  But 
these  are  everyday  matters.  The  Rand 
swarms  with  American  engineers,  who  naturally 
try  to  send  orders  to  their  countrymen.  Again, 
there  is  the  boot  and  shoe  trade,  a  large  pro- 
portion of  which  is  now  going  to  America  and 
to  Austria. 

British  statesmen  and  people  seem  possessed 
by  a  sublime  altruism,  making  markets  for 
other  countries  by  whom  their  own  manu- 
factures are  boycotted.  As  Rhodes  said,  "  The 
fools  don't  see  that  Empire  is  fast  slipping 
from  them."  It  is  useless  quoting  the  hundred 
examples.  The  pictures  in  shop  windows  are 
from  Germany,  and  so  are  the  razors.  Half 
the  Atlases  and  Bibles  sold  here  are  sold  by 
American  travelling  agents.  The  percentage 
of  English  manufacturers  as  compared  with 
foreign  lessens  yearly,  and  yet  commercial 
statistics  explain  it  all  away !  Colonists  say 
you  can  never  tell  a  home  Englishman 
anything ! 

Mark  my  words,  if  Englishmen  do  not 
"  wake  up  "  soon,  their  merchants  will  receive 
as  great  a  shock  as  their  soldiers  did  in 


"WAKE  UP!"  107 

the  Boer  campaign,  and  will  then  discover 
that  American  and  German  manufacturers, 
spent  so  much  more  on  their  "  Intelligence 
Department." 

You  know  that  scores  of  loyal  men  freely 
express  the  opinion,  that,  in  spite  of  the  late 
heroic  action  of  the  nation,  the  country  is  in 
its  decadence  already  ;  and  I  strongly  suspect 
it  will  prove  so,  unless  new  and  vigorous  Colonial 
blood  is  infused  into  the  imperial  councils. 

The  Empire  has  come  to  the  "parting  of  the 
ways,"  and  there  is  no  blinking  the  fact.  You 
hear  the  opinion  among  leading  merchants, 
shop-keepers,  labourers,  in  the  soldiers'  recrea- 
tion rooms,  where  all  Colonial  volunteers  laugh 
at  the  timid  policy,  which  trembles  to  hear  the 
musty  shibboleths  of  Bright  and  Cobden 
questioned. 

England  must  trust  more  to  Greater  Britain, 
or  else  decline.  There  is  no  third  course  open. 

Apart  from  Continental  boycotts  and 
American  shipping  trusts,  England  is  face 
to  face  with  a  great  danger,  which  she  has  to 
tackle  and  cannot  longer  "let  slide." — I  am, 
yours  truly. 


108          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 


IN  RE  NATIVE   QUESTION. 

JOHANNESBURG, 
i^th  June  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — For  two  days,  of 
course,  all  political  and  other  matters  have 
been  lost  sight  of,  in  the  absorbing  anxiety  as 
to  the  King's  illness,  though  the  latest  cable 
expresses  hopefulness. 

As  to  South  African  affairs,  while  the  crowd 
are  regarding  Lord  Milner's  work  as  accom- 
plished, few,  I  fear,  on  either  side  realise  what 
is  involved  in  reorganising  a  country,  say  of 
the  size  of  Russia. 

Not  the  least  of  the  difficulties  will  probably 
come  from  the  uninformed,  or  dishonest,  negro- 
phile  societies  at  home. 

The  native  question  is  now  but  as  "a  little 
cloud  like  a  man's  hand."  Whether  it  rises  up 
and  covers  the  whole  land  or  not,  depends  on 
the  prompt  adoption  of  some  humane  but  firm 
and  rational  policy  towards  the  native,  never 
yet  formulated,  as  far  as  I  know.  There  is  no 
time  to  be  lost.  Will  Downing  Street  deign 
to  notice  the  little  cloud,  or  will  it  wait  for  the 


THE  NATIVE  QUESTION  109 

first  mutterings  of  the  storm  ?  The  difference 
between  "now"  and  "then"  for  legislation, 
will  prove  just  as  great  as  the  difference 
between  '95  and  '99,  for  enforcing  our  claims 
on  the  Transvaal. 

Unlike  many  other  subjects  on  which  I  have 
written,  I  do  not  in  this  case  pretend  to  know 
what  should  be  done,  as  it  is  a  matter  of 
legislation  quite  outside  my  experience  or 
study.  But  there  are  plenty  of  civil  servants 
in  the  Cape  and  Natal,  who  could  give 
good  advice  if  asked ;  though  they  would  not 
volunteer  it,  for  fear  of  a  snubbing.  I  noticed 
a  paragraph  in  a  paper  the  other  day,  to  the 
effect  that  -  — ,  M.  L.A.,  had  already  been 
snubbed  from  home  (I  think  by  a  Cabinet 
Minister),  for  some  suggestions  he  made  as  to 
native  administration.  Very  few  missionaries 
would  speak  their  minds  or  admit  what  they 
know,  simply  because  their  lives  would  ever 
after  be  dogged  by  maniacs  at  Exeter  Hall. 

However  grand  the  work  of  Sharpe,  Clarkson, 
and  Wilberforce  undoubtedly  was,  the  modern 
negrophilist  has  for  over  half  a  century  been 
very  often  a  curse  to  the  native  races.  He 
is  responsible  for  the  death  or  degradation,  not 
of  tens,  but  of  hundreds  of  thousands,  through 


110          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

drunkenness.  Every  sane  man  in  South 
Africa,  and  every  newcomer  from  home, 
within  a  few  weeks  of  his  arrival,  sees  that  to 
place  the  black  man  on  absolute  equality  with 
the  white  man,  confers  on  the  former  not 
liberty  but  license.  It  is  not  a  year  ago  that 
I  first  heard  a  few  men  express  the  fear,  that 
this  was  to  be  the  next  burning  question  after 
the  war ;  but  the  opinion  is  fast  growing 
throughout  the  country,  that  action  cannot  be 
too  prompt.  I  suppose  any  ministry  would 
dread  dealing  with  a  matter  which  would  at 
once  rouse  a  hornet's  nest  about  their  ears,  or, 
in  other  words,  all  the  pseudo-philanthropists, 
ignorant  cranks,  and  faddists.  Perhaps,  if 
they  leave  Lord  Milner  to  use  his  own  judg- 
ment, he  Would  carry  it  through  quietly  and 
successfully.  We  want  some  medium  course 
between  Dutch  oppression  and  English  liberty- 
gone-mad.  When  I  was  last  in  England,  some 
twenty  years  ago,  I  was  utterly  disgusted  at 
the  self-satisfied  ignorance  of  politicians  of  a 
certain  school  on  native  affairs — and  could  see 
that  their  virtuous  negrophilism  was  simply  a 
platform  cry — among  many  other  cries.  The 
close  of  the  war  and  the  cropping  up  of  the 
native  question  are  not  mere  coincidences,  but 


SOLDIERS  AND  NATIVES  111 

to  a  great  extent  are  in  the  relation  of  cause 
and  effect.  During  the  war  the  native  has 
seen  more  than  was  desirable  in  many  ways. 
Even  the  good-nature  of  Tommy  Atkins  has 
acted  for  evil.  He  saw  in  the  Kaffir  the 
"  Sambo  "  of  the  Music  Halls,  and  fraternised 
with  him  in  a  way  that  never  is  for  the  good 
of  either  party. 

An  Exeter  Hall  magnate  would  be  shocked 
at  this  opinion,  and  would  quote  Scripture  as 
to  our  all  being  of  one  blood.  But  we  must 
never  abdicate  the  status  of  the  superior  race 
in  dealing  with  the  inferior  one.  The  sight  of 
soldiers  and  blacks  drinking  out  of  the  same 
pewter  and  carousing  together,  utterly  destroys 
that  moral  power  by  which,  after  all,  we  keep 
in  order  the  teeming  black  population  ;  and 
tends  most  distinctly  to  insubordination. 

I  suppose  it  is  impossible  for  the  untravelled 
Englishman  to  grasp  the  situation,  and  to 
realise  the  fact  that  this  freedom  is  as 
disastrous  for  black  as  for  white.  The  above 
is  only  one  phase  of  the  matter.  The  evil 
results  will  prove  less  objectionable  to  us  than 
to  our  late  enemies  the  Boers.  The  other  day 
a  black  servant  said  to  a  friend  of  mine, 
without  the  least  sense  of  impropriety  :  "  The 


112          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

Boers  always  called  me  '  you Kaffir ' ; 

now     I     call     them     '  you   Boers ! ' ! 

Another  Kaffir,  on  hearing  that  peace  was 
signed,  at  once  remarked  to  his  employer : 
"  Now  we  Kaffirs  are  as  good  as  you  white 
men."  This  maxim  might  be  applauded  at 
Exeter  Hall ;  but  there  they  don't  understand 
the  spirit  in  which  it  is  said.  The  new  recruit 
is  "as  good"  as  his  colonel,  and  the  child  "as 
good "  as  his  father  in  one  sense,  but  the 
removal  of  subordination  will  result  in  chaos. 
The  following  was  a  most  amusing  and  highly 
suggestive  indication.  The  first  Sunday  after 
peace  was  signed,  a  party  of  Kaffirs  in  brand 
new  slop  clothes,  instead  of  going  to  their  own 
church,  went  early  and  took  up  one  of  the 
most  prominent  pews  in  St  Mary's !  Again, 
a  huge  timber  platform  was  built,  the  whole 
length  of  Market  Square,  at  great  cost,  for  the 
public  to  view  the  decorations  from.  At  9 
A.M.,  it  is  true  that  the  procession  of  four 
thousand  or  five  thousand  children  occupied  it, 
but  for  the  rest  of  the  day  it  was  held  by 
Kaffirs !  and  no  white  man  could  get  a  footing. 
Under  Dutch  rule  not  one  Kaffir  would  have 
dared  step  on  it ! 

These  may  be  unimportant  matters  in  them- 


OUR  NATIVE  POLICY  113 

selves,  but  they  are  the  premonitory  symptoms 
of  very  grave  questions  indeed.  We  have  just 
decided  not  to  give  up  South  Africa  to  the 
Boers — now  we  must  decide  whether  we  are  to 
give  it  up  to  the  blacks,  which  is  a  more 
important  question  still.  How  to  hit  the 
happy  medium  will  tax  all  the  resources  of 
Lord  Milner,  able  as  he  is. 

Should  the  little- England  and  Irish  rabble 
manufacture  political  capital  out  of  it,  and  the 
ignorant  bigots  of  Exeter  Hall  join  in,  we 
may  have  a  pretty  mess.  Thus  far,  Dutch 
and  English  are  coming  together  wonderfully, 
but  no  more  lamentable  marplot  could  arise  to 
prevent  the  growing  harmony,  than  a  failure  in 
our  native  policy — or,  rather,  than  a  more 
pronounced  failure  than  the  past  can  show — 
for  no  doubt  we  have  never  scored  a  success. 
There  is  no  use  in  burking  a  fact  patent  to 
every  one,  and  one  partly  attributable  to  the 
opposite  extreme  visible  in  Dutch  native  policy 
(which  is  vile),  for  a  century  past. 

Events  have  moved  very  rapidly  lately. 
Last  month  the  question  in  all  mouths  was, 
"  How  many  months  or  years  will  the  Boers 
hold  out  ? "  To-day  you  may  bracket  together 
"South  African  Reorganisation"  and  "The 


114          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

Native  Question."  I  don't  think  the  papers 
have  begun  to  talk  about  it,  but  they  soon  will. 
The  general  temper  of  the  Boers  surrendering 
is  most  satisfactory,  and  in  many  cases  even 
chivalrous.  An  officer  just  in  from  witness- 
ing the  surrender  of  some  commandos,  told 
me  that  the  scene  was  deeply  interesting. 
He  said  the  Boers  were  evidently  greatly 
surprised  at  the  cordiality  of  their  reception  by 
the  soldiers,  who  at  once  offered  them  a  share 
of  their  rations  and  tobacco — friendly  to  the 
point  of  camaraderie. 

One  of  my  friends  was  at  the  theatre,  and 

who  should  come  in  but  Commandant  

with  some  Boers  off  commando.  When  their 
eyes  met,  he  held  out  his  hand  and  said, 
"  Hulloa,  Jack,  I  am  glad  to  see  you  back.  I 
am  glad  it's  all  over.  We  have  had  quite 
enough  of  it." 

My  friend  replied,  "  Yes  ;  we  have  all  had 
quite  enough  of  it,"  and  they  chatted  in  a 
friendly  manner, 

My  friend,  being  good  at  sports,  is  as  well 
known  to  Dutch  as  English  sportsmen,  and 
was  never  discourteous  to  the  Dutch,  but 
friendly.  Those  Boers  all  knew  he  had 
been  fighting  against  them.  .  .  . 


RELATIONS  WITH  THE  LATE  ENEMY     115 

Few  optimists  ventured  to  hope  for  such 
good  feeling  and  absence  of  vindictiveness,  on 
the  part  of  our  late  enemy.  It  entirely  rests 
with  us  to  maintain  these  happy  relations. 

If  we,  by  our  folly,  let  the  Kaffir  get  out  of 
hand  and  insolent,  and  an  idle  loafer,  it  will 
cause  most  unfavourable  comparisons  to  be 
drawn  between  English  and  Dutch  rule.  I 
much  regret  to  say  that  many  of  our  own 
people  are  already  drawing  such  comparisons ! 
Not  on  account  of  the  platform  and  the  church 
incident  mentioned  above,  but  because  of  a 
host  of  minor  everyday  household  incidents, 
indicating  restlessness  and  impatience  of  the 
control  that  the  employer  must  exercise  over 
the  employe,  let  his  colour  be  what  it  may. 

I  can  only  hope  Lord  Milner's  advisers  bring 
these  things  before  him.  Necessary  as  martial 
law  has  been,  I  can  better  appreciate  than  ever 
what  a  grand  thing  representation  of  the 
people  is. 


JOHANNESBURG, 

2'jthjune  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — I  have  just  closed 
a  letter  on  native  affairs,  but  must  send  the 


116          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UlTLANDEll 

following  on  the  way  the  news  of  peace  was 
accepted. 

The  local  Boers  seemed  pleased  all  round, 
but  the  foreigners  quite  otherwise,  though  I 
see  the  Continentals  in  Europe  expressed 
satisfaction. 

Here  Hollanders  and  other  "  Continentals  " 
did  not  care  to  enter  on  the  subject,  while 
the  Germans  as  a  rule  were  positively  sulky 
and  morose.  And  these  very  men  have  for 
the  most  part  been  doing  business  here 
through  the  war ! 

Till  the  news  was  finally  verified  they  affected 
not  to  believe  it,  and  evidently  did  not  wish  it 
to  be  true. 

The  wife  of  one  German,  when  the  news 
was  told  her,  said  bitterly,  "  Oh,  no,  you  need 
not  think  that.  It  will  cost  England  many  a 
million  yet  to  finish  this  war."  She  no  doubt 
expressed  in  words  what  the  more  reticent 
men  thought. 

They  did  not  attempt  to  disguise  their 
disappointment  at  the  news  of  peace.  This  is 
very  disgusting,  and  though  other  nationalities 
were  less  bitter,  it  was  only  a  question  of  degree 
with  all  of  them.  I  sincerely  hope  that  the 
differential  tariff  question  will  get  a  fair  hearing. 


BOERS  AND  CONTINENTALS  ON  PEACE    117 

It  is  odious  that  these  people,  who  enjoy  more 
freedom  than  they  did  in  their  own  land,  should 
be  so  hostile ;  and  should  certainly  be  noted 
down. 

I  see  crowds  of  Continentals  are  starting 
for  this.  I  sincerely  hope  that  permits  will  be 
refused,  till  all  English  wishing  to  come  have 
done  so.  There  are  endless  reasons  for  keep- 
ing out  all  anti- British  classes.  We  already 
have  a  turbulent  population  of  discharged 
fighting  men  of  our  own,  to  shake  down  into 
their  places  and  become  contented,  and  don't 
want  foreign  agitators  to  complicate  the  already 
difficult  problem.  I  will  send  Lord  Milner's 
speech  at  the  German  entertainment. — I  am, 
yours  truly. 


SUSPENSION  OF  CAPE 
CONSTITUTION. 

JOHANNESBURG, 

Zthjuly  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — We  have  just 
learned  that  the  Home  Government  has 
decided  not  to  suspend  the  Cape  Constitution, 


118          LETTERS  FROM  AN  U1TLANDER 

in  spite  of  suspension  being  desired  by 
practically  the  whole  of  the  loyal  population. 
We  are  accustomed  to  hear  this  country 
described  as  the  "land  of  paradoxes."  But, 
from  the  day  when  our  barbarous  ancestors 
first  held  a  council,  and  ceased  to  act  as  units, 
was  there  anything  to  equal  the  sheer  in- 
credible "  cussedness "  of  the  present  posi- 
tion? 

The  parties  are  grouped  as  follows  : — 

On  the  side  of  suspension,  are  the  loyal 
Dutch  and  English  population  of  South 
Africa. 

Against  suspension,  are  the  British  Govern- 
ment, the  Bond,  the  disloyal  of  all  races,  and 
a  great  bulk  of  the  resident  Continentals  !  * 

The  ink  on  the  peace  articles  is  hardly  dry, 
and  the  Africanders  have  already  scored  a 
victory.  This  is  no  figure  of  speech.  It  is 
regarded  as  a  substantial  Bond  triumph ! 
Putting  out  of  the  question  what  the  conse- 
quences will  be,  this  phase  of  the  matter  is 
very  unfortunate  in  itself,  i.e.,  the  mere  fact  of 
disregarding  loyal  opinion  and  meeting  the 
wishes  of  the  anti- British  section. 

*  Except  such  as  see  their  interests  would  be  best 
served  by  suspension. 


DECISION  AGAINST  SUSPENSION          119 

Had  the  question  never  been  discussed,  it 
would  have  mattered  less. 

The  moral  influence  is  most  unfortunate  and 
inopportune. 

Under  the  circumstances,  were  suspension 
even  a  doubtful  policy  it  would  have  been  well 
to  carry  it  out,  however  soon  it  were  reversed. 

Men  here,  who  have  been  gloomy  or  sulky 
on  other  matters,  are  distinctly  in  a  rage  about 
this. 

For  some  years  before  war,  all  the  en- 
couragement the  Uitlanders  got  from  home 
was  the  imbecile,  unmeaning  cry,  "  You  must 
work  out  your  own  salvation," — of  course  under 
impossible  circumstances.  Men  say  the  present 
policy  is  simply  a  return  to  the  old  game. 

I  am  not  now  speaking  as  a  partisan,  I  am 
telling  you  simply  the  opinions  of  others,  which 
I  have  taken  some  trouble  to  gather  from  old 
Colonists,  and  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men. 

It  is  true  there  is  a  small  party  (a  mere 
fraction)  of  loyalists  who  are  against  sus- 
pension, but,  as  far  as  I  am  able  to  form  an 
opinion,  I  think  they  are  actuated  solely  by 
one  consideration  out  of  many.  They  are  in 
mortal  dread,  that,  with  suspension,  the  Home 
Government  under  pressure  of  philanthropists, 


120          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

would  play  the  fool  with  the  native  question, 
and  turn  the  country  upside  down.  Till  I 
read  the  speeches  of  some  sound  Colonial 
farmers,  I  could  not  understand  their  attitude. 
This,  of  course,  does  not  apply  to  the  one  or 
two  defaulting  constituencies,  under  personal 

influence   of  and  his    friends.     These 

cases  need  no  comment,  the  exceptions  proving 
the  rule. 

Rhodes  might  perhaps  have  "worked  the 
oracle,"  but  he  has  left  no  one  behind  him. 
Cape  Colonists  are  as  sheep  without  a  shepherd. 
The  plausible  figure-heads  that  do  very  well 
on  a  platform,  are  no  match  for  intriguers 
whose  cunning  and  duplicity  would  have 
passed  muster  in  mediaeval  Italy. 

Some  predict  early  trouble.  I  should  be 
inclined  to  doubt  this.  How  any  redistribution 
bill  that  is  anything  but  a  sham  can  be 
carried,  passes  my  comprehension.  Outside 
this  question,  I  should  think  the  Africanders 
will  play  a  "forbearing"  part,  and  gain  golden 
opinions  from  the  unsuspecting,  guileless 
Englishmen  at  home. 

They,  the  Africanders,  are  antipodal  to  the 
French,  and  can  play  a  waiting  game  to 
perfection. 


REDISTRIBUTION  OF  SEATS  121 

The  insidious  wearing-down  action  would  be 
a  trump  card,  with  the  Little  Englander  and 
the  uninformed  masses  at  home,  and  would 
neutralise  much  that  has  been  achieved  by  this 
great  war. 

Any  redistribution  of  seats  that  Sprigg 
could  carry,  would  be  a  farce.  We  should 
have  merely  a  distinction  without  a  difference. 
A  sham  redistribution  bill  means  simply,  con- 
firming Cape  Town  in  its  leadership  of  the 
anti-British  propaganda  throughout  South 
Africa. 

Till  I  stayed  in  Cape  Town,  I  had  no  idea 
how  completely  that  contribution  to  the  Navy  * 
was  adopted  by  the  Bond.  And  the  device 
thoroughly  answered  the  end  in  view.  Not 
only  was  it  quoted  at  home  as  an  indication  of 
friendly  feeling,  but  it  is  quoted  here  to  this 
day,  by  men  who  ought  to  know  better.  Of 
course  the  Bond  are  masters  of  the  art  of 
throwing  dust  in  the  eyes  of  the  British  people, 
and  the  British  people  appear  to  enjoy  the 
process. 

Some  are  hopeful  that  the  disfranchisement 
of  rebels  will  have  good  results,  but  I  think 

*  Many  of  us  at  the  time  agreed  with  the  words  Dona 
ferentes  timeo. 

Q 


122          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

that  without  redistribution,  the  calling  of 
Parliament  is  a  very  unwise  step.  The  cousins 
of  the  men  who  so  completely  overreached 
and  jockeyed  us  in  turn,  will  do  the  same  with 
thousands  of  Colonists,  whose  advocates  in 
England  will  stir  up  a  hornet's  nest  around 
Mr  Chamberlain's  ears.  I  hope  I  may  be 
wrong — but  I  should  think  this  a  very  likely 
plan  of  campaign.  The  Africanders  will  pose 
as  injured  innocents  in  no  time,  and  a  re- 
vulsion of  feeling  will  set  in  at  home,  aided  by 
a  deluge  of  political  and  religious  claptrap  from 
liberal  press  and  pulpit. 

A  short  suspension  and  redistribution  of 
seats  would  avert  all  this.  I  think  the  calling 
of  Parliament  is  a  piece  of  infatuation.  It  is 
no  exaggeration  to  define  suspensionists  as  the 
King's  friends,  and  anti-suspensionists  as  his 
enemies.  The  line  is  sharp  and  well-defined, 
though,  of  course,  it  has  only  been  in  the  heat 
of  the  final  controversy,  that  this  has  become 
so  glaringly  apparent  to  us  all. — I  remain, 
yours  truly. 

PS. — 'There  is  no  disguising  the  fact,  that 
both  Briton  and  anti-Briton  see  in  the  decision 
of  the  Home  Government  the  old  policy  of 
FUNK  AND  LET  SLIDE,  just  as  the  goal  is 


MORAL  EFFECTS  OF  NON-SUSPENSION     123 

nearly  reached,    but   not   quite  reached — after 
an  outlay  of  ^200,000,000 ! 


JOHANNESBURG, 

zftthjuly  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — I  sent  a  few  hurried 
lines  with  cuttings  on  26th,  but  as  I  can  post 
till  midday,  I  send  a  few  more. 

The  more  non-suspension  is  considered,  the 
uglier  it  looks.  I  have  sent  so  many  press 
articles  on  its  demerits,  that  I  will  confine 
myself  now  to  the  moral  effects — not  pro- 
spective, but  present.  As  I  said  on  the  26th, 
every  man  in  this  country  knows  that  the 
Home  Government  would  be  only  too  thankful 
to  carry  out  a  policy  desired  by  the  loyal 
section  of  the  population — and  yet  that,  once 
more,  loyal  opinion  is  disregarded,  and  that  our 
enemies  are  to  have  their  way  in  the  matter. 
This  alone  is  most  unfortunate !  There  are 
all  sorts  of  guesses  at  the  truth  on  both  sides. 
What  is  the  prevailing  guess  at  explanation  ? 
I  am  unable  to  say  at  present. 

Some  say  a  morbid  desire  to  conciliate ; 
others,  that  Home  Government  acts  under 


124          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

threat  of  party  obstruction,  etc.,  etc.  Every 
one,  however,  sees  the  matter  in  a  much  graver 
light  than  the  English  press  appears  to.  A 
friend  of  mine  was  discussing  it  with  a 
Hollander,  whom  I  know  and  respect.  He 
remarked,  "If  you  English  don't  mind  what 
you  are  about,  Bismarck's  prophecy  will  come 
true,  and  South  Africa  will  be  \hegrave  of  the 
British  Empire."  I  don't  remember  the  pro- 
phecy myself. 

In  South  Africa,  when  two  courses  are  open — 
a  bold  and  a  weak  one — the  bold  one  is  (cceteris 
paribus)  always  the  safest  by  many  degrees. 
Nay,  further — a  bold,  rash  course  is  safer  than 
a  weak,  more  prudent  one.  Thackeray  says 
that  what  women  most  admire  in  men  is 
strength.  Had  he  known  this  country  he 
would  have  included  Dutchmen.  The  Kaffirs 
are  still  more  impressed  with  this  quality.  I 
have  heard  it  was  quite  as  much  Rhodes'  strong 
vigorous  character  as  his  sympathy  with  the 
race,  which,  latterly,  made  him  popular  with  so 
many  of  the  Dutch.  We  so  sadly  overlook 
these  moral  influences  in  dealing  with  these 
people. 

I   don't  at  all  like  the  look  of  things  here, 
though  I  don't  wish  to  be  an  alarmist.     Every- 


ATTITUDE  OF  BOER  WOMEN  125 

thing  seems  out  of  gear.  There  is  a  great 
undercurrent  of  discontent.  A  little,  a  very 
little,  commercial  prosperity,  involving  work  and 
wages  for  the  people  would,  no  doubt,  clear  the 
air  to  some  extent ;  but  the  prospect  is  all  the 
other  way. 

A  few  months  normally  good  business,  would 
help  Lord  Milner  more  than  a  multitude  of 
councillors. 

News  from  Dutch  districts  is  not  reassuring. 
Men  from  the  North  and  North-East  districts 
of  Cape  Colony  say  the  Dutch  generally  adopt 
a  defiant  attitude,  and  not  at  all  what  was 
hoped.  Only  a  few  weeks  ago,  I  described 
circumstantially  the  fraternising  of  Britain  and 
Boer  fresh  from  the  field,  and  correctly.  I 
much  regret  to  find  that  the  women  are  far 
more  bitter  than  the  men — in  fact,  many  of 
them  irreconcilable. 

The  great  fear  is  that,  whatever  the  man 
thinks,  he  will  sooner  or  later  have  to  give  in 
to  the  woman,  when  she  is  assisted  by  the 
parson. 

The  men  would  soon  fall  into  line,  but  the 
women  and  the  parsons  are  not  in  a  forgiving 
mood  at  all. 

For  years  British  doings  have  suggested  the 


126  LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

bird  hovering  over  "the  snare  of  the  fowler" 
rather  than  the  work  of  the  "strong  man 
armed  " — and  one  dreads  a  return  to  the  old 
condition. — I  am,  yours  sincerely. 


JOHANNESBURG, 

4fth  August  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — I  have  just  been 
told,  that  the  Chamber  of  Mines  has  decided 
to  offer  black  labourers  655.,  instead  of  305. 
per  month.  If  this  is  true  it  will  bring  in 
labour,  and  immensely  relieve  the  situation. 

Suspension. — I  have  posted  duplicate  news- 
paper cuttings — articles  from  the  Leader  on 
refusal  to  suspend  Cape  Constitution.  If 
explanation  is  correct,  it  shows  us  how  great 
Imperial  questions  may  be  decided  by  rule 
of  thumb.  Were  the  policy  less  inherently 
bad  than  it  actually  is,  the  moral  effect  here 
is  unfortunate,  and  is  outrageously  provoking, 
coming  at  the  time  it  does.  Till  this  letter 
appeared,  people  supposed  it  to  be  the  result 
of  fear,  on  the  part  of  Mr  Chamberlain,  that 
an  outcry  would  be  raised  by  Liberals  about 
"infringement  on  British  liberty,"  etc.,  etc.  It 
now  seems  that worked  the  oracle  with 


BOND  OBSTRUCTION  127 

help  of  a  few  premiers  of  other  Colonies,  who 
know  as  much  about  this  matter  as  the  Lord 
Mayor  does. 

As  I  said  before,  I  don't  anticipate  open  Bond 
obstruction  as  an  immediate  result  in  the 
house — there  lies  the  whole  danger.  They 
are  too  crafty.  They  will  shock  nobody. 
The  unthinking  British  people  will  say,  "  How 
the  Bond  has  been  maligned,  they  mean  no 
harm  after  all."  They  will  quietly  impede  and 
postpone  all  real  reform,  and  in  a  year  we  shall 
find  the  Cape  in  the  statu  quo  ante  bellum. 

Separation  of  provinces  would  take  the  sting 
out  of  this  false  step.  Still  the  pitching  away 
of  a  prize  so  laboriously  won  is  more  than 
mortifying. 

Many  tell  you,  in  cool  moments,  the  Govern- 
ment from  home  is  becoming  an  absurdity,  and 
that  home  people  are  all  at  sea  as  to  who  are 
their  friends  and  who  their  enemies — in  South 
Africa.* 

*  There  are  many  who  do  not  hesitate  to  hint  to  us 
more  plainly  than  the  writer,  that,  if  future  Imperial 
legislation  for  South  Africa  be  dictated  by  home  party  con- 
siderations^ many  there  who  have  now  been  fighting  for 
us,  might  be  found  in  the,  I  hope  most  unlikely,  event 
of  fresh  disturbances,  to  be  in  antagonism  to  the  Mother 
Country.— B.  C.  F. 


128          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

I  only  wish  business  would  look  up  just  to 
divert  attention  (as  it  always  does)  from  politics. 
People  are  anxious  as  to  taxation  in  the  future, 
and  the  majority  are  by  no  means  in  a  contented 
mood.  You  would  be  much  amused  at  the 
contemptuous  tone  adopted  as  to  the  lionising 
of  the  Boer  visitors  to  England — as  England's 
latest  craze. 

Of  course,  to  the  South  African,  the  path 
looks  so  straight  and  so  well-defined,  that  he 
can't  understand  the  constant  tendency  of  the 
home  authorities  to  strike  off  to  the  right  or 
left — when  apparently  heading  for  the  goal. 

It  seems  all  relegated  to  a  toss-up  how  matters 
go  in  South  Africa,  in  spite  of  our  ruler  being 
one  of  the  cleverest  men  in  the  Empire. — I  am, 
yours  sincerely. 


JOHANNESBURG, 

4/A  August  1902. 

I  missed  posting  this  last  week. 

Kruger  as  Statesman. — The  deification  of 
Paul  Kruger  has  done  much  harm.  His 
religion  was  of  a  certain  Calvinistic  variety, 
which  imposed  the  very  slightest  of  moral 


THE  DUTCH  CLERGY  129 

restraint  on  its  advocate,  and  therefore  was 
very  easy  to  follow  and  to  harangue  his  fellows 
about.  He  has  shown  glaring  want  of 
common  foresight  again  and  again.  Apart  from 
his  determination,  his  was  a  most  common- 
place character,  in  which  avarice  and  cunning 
were  always  visible. 

Note   on  previous   remarks  regarding  Hol- 
landers, D.R*  parsons,  etc.  : — 

A  stranger  to  the  South  African  question 
might  think,  on  reading  some  of  my  letters, 
that  I  was  prejudiced  against  certain  races  and 
classes  of  men,  such,  for  instance,  as  Hollanders, 
Dutch  parsons,  Boers,  etc.  Though  I  know 
that  you  understand  my  remarks  apply  only 
to  the  objectionable  portion  of  those  named, 
yet  I  may  as  well  state  that  we  have  Hollanders 
here  whom  any  man  may  well  be  pleased  to 
reckon  among  his  friends.  So  with  the  Dutch 
clergy  again,  we  find  men  who  are  faithfully 
doing  their  duty,  and  who  endeavour  to  allay 
rather  than  to  excite  racial  or  other  unrest. 
Such  men  suffer  at  times  for  the  acts  and 
words  of  their  less  discreet  brothers.  The 
political  Dutch  parson  is  not  a  pleasing  type  of 
his  order.  He  is  generally  the  best  housed, 
*  Dutch  Reformed  Church.— B.  C.  F. 


130          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

best  fed,  best  groomed  man  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, and  when  he  and  his  family  move  about 
among  the  tents  and  waggons  at  the  quarterly 
"  naachtmaal "  service,  among  the  homely 
Boers,  the  contrast  is  as  great  as  if  a  prize  pen 
of  "south  downs"  from  a  show,  were  let  loose 
among  a  flock  of  mountain  sheep. 

As  to  the  Boer  race,  though  no  one  can 
shut  his  eyes  to  the  blunders  and  follies  they 
have  committed  during  the  last  few  years,  it 
would,  to  me,  be  much  more  congenial  work 
to  write  of  their  good  qualities,  such  as  their 
hospitality  to  strangers.  After  a  hot  ride  of 
fifty  miles,  I  have  come  on  a  lonely  homestead 
among  the  kopjes,  and  have  been  invited  to 
off-saddle  and  stay  for  the  night,  and  have 
been  looked  after  as  kindly  as  if  I  had  been 
a  long  absent  son,  instead  of  an  unknown 
stranger. 

Nothing  stirs  up  more  bitter  feeling  against 
the  plotting  Bondsmen,  than  the  memories  of 
those  good  old  days,  and  of  the  scenes  among 
those  peaceful  homes,  now  desolate.  Boers 
are  a  fine  race  physically,  as  a  result  of  several 
generations  being  brought  up  to  outdoor  life. 
The  wealthy  Cape  Dutchman,  urban  as  well 
as  rural,  shares  this  advantage,  and  his 


THE  CAPE  DUTCHMAN  131 

patriarchal  instincts  save  him  from  certain 
vulgarisms.  As  a  rule,  his  relations  with 
poorer  members  of  his  family  are  pleasing,  and 
he  is  not  much  given  to  aping  a  "society" 
exterior.  Probably  the  greatest  drawback  to 
the  entire  race  has  been  the  maintenance  of 
the  Taal,  which  has  kept  it  (with  the  exception 
of  a  few  wealthy  town  residents)  shut  out  from 
literature  and  modern  thought ;  just  as  the 
humbler  classes  of  Belgium  are  excluded,  by 
their  patois,  from  good  French  literature — a 
civilising  influence  which  keeps  the  well-to-do 
classes  abreast  of  the  age. 


JOHANNESBURG, 

nth  August  1902. 

We  seem  to  be  going  through  an  anxious 
time,  and  I  must  own  I  feel  less  able  to  gauge 
the  position  than  at  any  time  during  the  last 
ten  years.  Lord  Milner  can't  split  himself  into 
ten,  and  his  task  seems  almost  superhuman. 

Well-to-do  people  take  a  patient  view  of  the 
case,  but  a  large  mass  of  men  appear  to  be 
very  discontented.  Were  it  mainly  French 
instead  of  British  populations,  I  should  think 


132          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

we  were  on  the  eve  of  revolution,  but  of  course 
there  is  more  smoke  than  fire.  A  few  weeks 
of  the  "  better  times  "  looked  for,  would  effect 
more  than  the  aid  of  all  the  statesmen  in  the 
Empire.  Some  papers  say  the  root-cause 
of  depression  is  the  struggle  to  reduce  black 
miners'  pay  to  305.  per  month,  (the  rumour  I 
mentioned  in  my  last  as  to  an  advance  offer 
was  incorrect,  as  I  supposed  it  must  be).  I 
shall  be  amazed  if  the  Kaffirs  accept  303. 

War  Taxation. — The  uncertainties  on  this 
head,  and  the  fear  of  Transvaal  being  saddled 
with  a  heavy  debt,  is  another  serious  cause  of 
anxiety,  which  is  no  doubt  preventing  money 
coming  into  the  country  to  relieve  the  pres- 
sure. 

These  considerations,  combined,  are  causing 
a  deadlock,  but  for  which  the  bulk  of  the 
population  would  not  trouble  very  much  about 
politics.  As  it  is,  politics  are  very  unpleasantly 
to  the  fore,  and  I  hear  Englishmen  express 
opinions  which  I  much  regret  hearing  from 
them. 

Rumours. — Beside  all  this  there  are  mis- 
chievous rumours  in  the  air,  as  to  the  real 
terms  of  peace  being  still  a  secret.  All  the 
Boers  assert  this  with  confidence.  The 


CAUSES  OF  UNREST  133 

foreigners  also  affect  to  expect  some  sur- 
prise. 

These  rumours,  and  the  uncertainties  as  to 
some  heavy  claim  on  the  part  of  England,  the 
non-suspension  of  Cape  Constitution,  and  the 
way  in  which  Boers  are  being  "petted"  here, 
and  lionised  at  home,  are  altogether  causing 
a  great  deal  of  unrest.  I  fear  that  the 
heaviest  work  of  Lord  Milner  has  yet  to 
come.  I  told  you  that  on  my  arrival  here 
I  was  much  surprised  at  the  suspicion  ex- 
pressed, and  this  has  rapidly  grown.  Can't 
Government  recoup  itself  out  of  Crown  lands 
to  a  great  extent  ? 

They  are  between  two  difficulties.  Any 
heavy  taxation  announced  now,  in  the  depres- 
sion, would  retard  recovery  ;  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  knowledge  that  something  is  kept 
back  from  them  is  a  serious  source  of  unrest 
with  our  people. 

With  a  less  able  man  than  Lord  Milner  at 
the  helm,  I  should  be  very  uneasy  indeed. 
What  an  awful  loss  to  him  Rhodes  must  be ! 

One  argument  used  here  is,  that  the  Rand 
should  not  be  heavily  burdened,  because  the 
people  here  have  already  suffered  such  loss, 
while  the  Cape,  which  aided  the  rebels,  escape 


134          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

paying  any  war  tribute,  though  enriched  by  the 
expenditure ;  and  also  because  they  were  the 
victims,  not  the  cause,  of  war,  which  might 
have  been  averted  had  their  years  of  warnings 
been  listened  to.  Among  other  canards  the 
foreigners  have  is,  that  the  new  Vice-Adminis- 
trator's appointment  is  only  the  prelude  to  the 
recall  of  Lord  Milner!  However  wild  any 
report  may  be,  it  all  adds  fuel  to  the  fire. 

As  I  said  in  my  last,  the  Boer  women  are 
dreadfully  bitter.  That  the  Kaffir  Labour 
Pay  Question  should  have  cropped  up  now  is 
deplorable  beyond  all  words — and  it  is  un- 
fortunate that  the  mines  are  so  largely  kept 
going  by  Continental  capital,  or,  rather,  that 
Continental  holdings  are  so  large. 

It  will  be  sad,  indeed,  if,  after  spending  two 
hundred  millions,  the  settling  down  should  be 
hindered  by  the  comparative  trifle  required  to 
keep  local  interests  going.  Were  the  Chamber 
of  Mines  to  notify  to-morrow  that  they  would 
give  Kaffirs  the  old  pay,  it  would  greatly 
relieve  the  position  all  round — but  under 
present  circumstances,  I  really  fear  hearing  of 
any  taxing  measures  from  England. 

The  common  saying  of  the  Dutch,  "  We  told 
you  that  you  would  wish  Kruger  back,"  is 


THE  MINES  AND  TAXATION  135 

becoming  as  frequent  as  it  is  offensive,  and  of 
course  all  such  things  tend  to  evil. 

Had  I  Lord  Milner's  ability,  I  would  not 
take  his  present  burden  on  my  shoulders,  and 
without  him  South  Africa  would  lapse  into 
hopeless  anarchy. 

Unless  the  Home  Government  and  the 
Mines  can  come  to  terms,  it  is  thought  by 
many  that  the  drifting  backwards  will  be  more 
and  more  serious. 

We  little  expected  all  this  difficulty  at  the 
close  of  the  war. — I  am,  yours  sincerely. 


JOHANNESBURG, 

i8///  August  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — Native  affairs. 
Grave  enough,  but  I  cannot  see  the  men 
I  want.  White  missionaries  all  give  Bible 
teaching — on  the  momentous  social  and 
political  questions,  all  are  pulling  in  different 
directions. 

Newspaper  cuttings  enclosed  of  much  in- 
terest. See  appreciation  of  your  father's  work, 
twenty  years  late ! 

The  writing  of  Jeremiads  is  unpleasant  work, 


136          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

if  only  because  an  improvement  in  business, 
by  relieving  the  bread-and-butter  question, 
may  for  the  time  throw  discredit  on  the  prophet 

of  evil.  But  I  must  write  to  Mr  to 

send  you  some  letters  of  '96,  my  forecasts  in 
which  have  been  so  dismally  verified.  If 
certain  of  the  Home  Press  can  take  a  hint, 
those  ignorant,  self-satisfied  scribblers  may 
cease  from  the  abusive  rubbish  they  are  now 
pouring  on  the  men  of  the  Rand — the  one 
place  from  which  British  influence  must  radiate 
if  South  Africa  is  ever  to  be  British  except  in 
name. 

I  have  for  some  weeks  made  notes  which  I 
have  delayed  putting  on  paper  to  you.  But 
the  other  evening  at  dinner  a  young  friend 
repeated  such  a  striking  conversation  that  I 
use  it  as  a  text.  He  was  sent  on  business  to 

a  Dutchman  in  D ,  an  educated  man  of 

about  33  or  35. 

After  finishing  his  business,  the  following 
was  said : — 

Englishman. — Were  you  long  on  commando? 

Dutchman. — Yes,  from  the  outbreak  of  war 
till  the  great  "drives"  showed  the  game  was 
up — when  I  surrendered. 

Englishman. — We  all  knew  it   would  be  a 


A  DUTCHMAN  ON  THE  SITUATION      137 

terrible  war,  and  were  in  great  fear  of  it,  and 
did  not  want  it  to  come. 

Dutchman. — I  did  not  know  that  before  the 
war.  It  was  only  when  our  commandos 
found  how  utterly  unprepared  you  were,  that 
I  saw  that  Paul  Kruger  had  made  the  war ! 
You  have  beaten,  but  what  have  you  gained  ? 
The  Rand  is  more  discontented  than  under 
Kruger.  You  will  be  more  heavily  taxed,  and 
you  have  even  less  voice  in  government,  if 
possible.  Everything  stands  still  with  the 
mines  out  of  work.  The  companies  could  get 
thousands  of  boys,  native  miners,  to-morrow, 
but  they  want  first  to  see  what  Chamberlain 
is  going  to  do.  If  things  go  on  as  they  are, 
it  means  only  one  thing — Revolution. 

It  was  our  generals'  delay  that  saved  you  ; 
had  the  Boers  rushed  for  the  ports  (as  they 
wanted  to)  the  country  would  have  risen  and 
you  would  have  been  crushed ! 

I  believe  this  political  diagnosis  is  as  accurate 
as  the  strategic. 

The  separate  items  are  familiar  to  my  ears — 
but  the  condensed  summary  and  the  quarter 
from  which  it  came,  set  me  thinking  far  into 
the  small  hours. 

My    own    belief  is    that    South    Africa    is 


138          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

"  drifting  "  as  fast  as  before  the  war,  though 
perhaps  not  exactly  in  the  same  direction. 
Only  Lord  Milners  personality  keeps  the 
public  voice  as  quiet  as  it  is.  There  is  an  idea 
abroad  that  he  is  not  as  heartily  backed  at 
home  as  he  was.  His  task  is  superhuman. 
Important  departments  in  a  state  of  chaos  !  with 
ten  times  as  much  circumlocution  and  red  tape 
as  under  Paul  Kruger — enough,  in  fact,  for  the 
"Sublime  Porte"!  At  first  I  thought  the 
"Leader"*  was  a  disturbing  element,  but  on 
further  inquiry,  I  think  it  is  a  safety-valve. 

Any  elective  body  (however  purely  advisory] 
would  form  a  buffer  between  people  and 
Government.  .  .  . 

Mr  Chamberlain  said  the  other  day  that 
there  was  no  need  for  hurry  in  the  Transvaal. 
There  is  every  need.  But  for  public  confidence 
in  Lord  Milner  there  would  be  some  ugly 
complajnts  made.  All  classes  are  disgusted  at 
the  abusive,  ignorant  clap-trap  of  some  London 
papers,  and  think  that  home  politicians  and 
writers  are  as  profoundly  in  the  dark  about  the 
Transvaal  as  before  the  war. 

It  is  not  the  sluggards  and  fossils  who  find 
their  way  here,  but  the  enterprising  son  of  the 
*  The  Transvaal  Leader  newspaper. 


THE  TAXATION  QUESTION  139 

family,  and  the  ambitious  man  of  the  village. 
The  rumours  of  heavy  taxation  have  a  most 
disturbing  effect.  Men  ask  why  we  should  pay 
for  a  war  for  which  Cape  Colony  is  quite  as 
responsible. 

Our  sacrifice  of  life  and  money  is  far  larger 
than  that  of  any  part  of  the  Empire  already, 
and  had  we  been  listened  to  years  ago  there 
would  have  been  no  war.  .  .  . — I  am,  yours 
sincerely. 


JOHANNESBURG, 

2^th  August  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — There  is  little  or  no 
change  here.  Of  course,  every  one  is  very 
anxious  as  to  the  debt  to  be  apportioned 
to  us,  as  it  is  a  life  and  death  matter. 

The  only  bright  feature  in  our  surroundings 
is  the  confidence  placed  in  Lord  Milner  by  all 
people.  There  is  such  gloomy  foreboding  as 
to  debt  to  be  apportioned  to  this  state.  The 
element  of  uncertainty  is  as  bad  as  the  evil 
itself,  stopping,  as  it  does,  all  enterprise,  and 
causing  widespread  discontent.  But  for  the 
universal  confidence  in  Lord  Milner,  I  should 
consider  the  outlook  very  black. 


140          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

I  do  not  refer  only  to  Transvaal,  but  to  all 
South  Africa.  In  the  Cape  it  looks  as  if  all 
the  predictions  of  the  "  Suspensionists  "  were 
going  to  be  fulfilled,  at  an  earlier  period  than  I 
personally  expected. 

There  are  so  many  different  views  taken. 
Stock  Exchange  magnates  and  Club  men 
are  most  easy,  and  often  tell  you  that  all  is 
going  on  right.  Commercial  men  are  very 
gloomy,  and  tell  you  that  the  country  is  in  a 
worse  hole  than  ever,  and  labouring  men  and 
mechanics  too  often  draw  very  ugly  com- 
parisons, between  the  old  regime  and  the  new. 
The  most  wealthy,  of  course,  can  make  as 
much  money  out  of  a  great  slump  and  depres- 
sion as  out  of  a  boom  ;  they  have  got  hold  of 
both  ends  of  the  stick,  and  are  all  right  either 
way. 

To  commercial  men  it  means  steady  im- 
poverishment. As  to  the  poorer  classes,  we 
have  not  merely  their  suffering  to  consider,  but 
the  discontent  so  sedulously  fostered  by  all 
who  are  not  firm  to  the  English  cause.  The 
Africanders  from  here  to  Cape  Town  are  all 
intently  watching  what  is  done  here. 

I  think  the  Home  Government  would  have 
its  eyes  wonderfully  opened,  if  the  following 


INDEPENDENT  OPINIONS  141 

small  experiment  were  tried — i.e.,  Send  out 
two  or  three  travelled  men  (men  who  know  the 
Colonies,  and  not  West-end  exquisites.)  Give 
them  no  introductions.  (If  they  are  passed  on 
from  official  to  official,  and  from  club  to  club, 
they  will  return  home  as  wise  as  the  editor  of 

the    " .")     Let    them    smoke   their  pipes 

in  the  common  room  at  country  inns,  from 
Cape  Town  to  Graaf  Reinet,  and  in  Johannes- 
burg hotels  and  bars,  and  mix  with  all  sorts 
and  conditions  of  men.  They  could  then  tell 
Mr  Chamberlain  a  great  deal  more  than  he 
now  knows.  In  England  there  is  so  much 
mere  academic  knowledge  that  is  not  prac- 
tical. We  have  given  the  Africander  back 
the  spoils  of  victory.  I  could  fill  a  ream 
with  the  remarks  that  come  to  my  ears.  To 
simmer  it  down,  perhaps  the  following  gives 
the  pith  : — 

"  In  a  few  years'  time  we  shall  be  as  strong 
as  ever,  and  then  we  shall  not  be  alone,  but 
shall  have  two-thirds  of  you  Uitlanders  fight- 
ing on  our  side !  " 

These,  to  me,  are  odious  words,  but  they  are 
commonly  spoken,  among  the  poorer  of  both 
races,  and  the  tendency  is  known  and  realised 
throughout  South  Africa. 


142          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

The  Uitlander  feels  that  he  has  fallen 
between  two  stools.  He  sees  our  late  enemies 
started  in  life  afresh,  while  he  has  spent  all  his 
savings  during  the  war,  and  finds  that  the 
community  he  belongs  to  is  the  only  one  in 
South  Africa  to  be  taxed  in  South  Africa, 
though  it  is  the  most  loyal  one,  and  the  one 
that  gave  advice  which,  had  it  been  taken 
seven  or  eight  years  ago,  would  have  pre- 
vented war. 

As  I  said  in  my  last,  anything  that  revived 
trade  and  gave  employment  to  all,  would 
silence  the  local  unrest ;  but  it  is  no  use 
disregarding  it.  Were  "  things  brisk,"  less 
would  be  said  about  some  of  the  appointments 
that  have  been  made.  .  .  . 

I  see  the  Home  Press  says  that,  as  some 
of  the  men  sent  out  are  not  a  success,  they 
should  try  Indian  Civil  Servants.  Is  their 
object  to  insult  South  Africans  ?  There 
are  hundreds  of  young  men  in  South 
Africa,  who  have  won  their  spurs  in  the 
class-room  and  the  battle-field.  Had  I  sons 
who  were  open  to  compete  for  these  posts,  I 
should  be  most  indignant  at  the  tone  ex- 
pressed. 

The  effect  of  this  has  been  altogether  out 


WANTED— THE  ENGLISH  FARMER        143 

of  proportion  to  the  money  interest  involved, 
which  is  trifling. 

I  am  sure  you  will  understand  my  meaning. 
I  speak  impartially,  as  neither  I  nor  any  of 
my  family  are  interested.  The  upper  posts 
have  caused  less  ill  -  feeling  than  the  lower 
ones,  to  which  larger  numbers  are  aspiring. 

I  asked  Mr to  send  you  some  typed 

copies  of  letters  of  '96.  There  is  too  much 
of  the  Old  Moore's  almanac  prediction  about 
them,  though  correct  in  the  main. 

I  shall  be  most  thankful  when  we  can  see 
our  way  before  us.  Our  lives  are  being  spent 
at  fever  heat  at  present.  What  are  our 
anxieties  to  Lord  Milner's ! 

Anxious  days  and  sleepless  nights  are  the 
rule  with  the  great  majority. — I  am,  yours 
sincerely. 


JOHANNESBURG, 

1st  September  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — What  we  want  in 
this  country  is  an  influx  of  intelligent,  active 
young  English  farmers,  whom  I  remember  in 
my  youth  as  a  splendid  type  of  manhood. 
Have  they  migrated  into  towns,  or  are  they 


144          LETTERS  FftOM  AN  UITLANDER 

all  too  well  off  to  move  ?  *  I  thought  it  was 
quite  otherwise,  and  that  their  labour  barely 
found  them  necessaries  of  life.  They  are  the 
men  to  do  here,  and  the  men  to  make  South 
Africa  British.  .  .  . 

There  is,  of  course,  much  uneasiness  as  to 
the  situation  from  the  Cape  upwards.  But 
opinions  vary  strangely.  Officials  and  new- 
comers see  nothing  the  matter,  and  describe  it 
all  as  "grousing."  It  is  amusing  how  new- 
comers think  the  place  highly  prosperous ! 
Were  trade  to  improve,  and  full  demand  for 
labour  arise,  it  would  at  once  greatly  relieve 
the  position.  Lord  Milner's  presence  does 
much  to  keep  men  patient  and  rational.  The 
fear  of  the  debt  to  be  imposed  on  Transvaal 
is  greatly  responsible  for  things  not  settling 
down.  The  idea  is,  that  the  long  oppressed 
Uitlander  is  (as  a  matter  of  expediency)  to  be 
made  the  scapegoat  for  the  sins  of  rebellion  of 
all  other  parts  of  South  Africa,  which  he,  the 
Uitlander,  fought  to  put  down  and  punish. 
The  element  of  uncertainty  is  such  a  disturbing 
one,  and  half  paralyses  business  in  many 
directions. 

*  Compare,  alas,  Rider  Haggard's  Rural  England  to 
answer  this  question. — B.  C.  F. 


A  FOOL'S  PARADISE  H5 

It  looks  as  if  non-suspension  was  very  early 
about  to  prove  the  great  blunder  we  all  here 
saw  it  to  be  from  the  first.  We  are  as  much 
under  Bond  rule  as  ever.  By  what  wonderful 
stretch  of  imagination,  could  the  Home  Govern- 
ment have  expected  to  see  any  effective  re-dis- 
tribution bill  carried,  after  giving  a  new  lease 
of  life  to  the  Bond.  It  was  as  intensely 
disheartening  to  the  English  populations  of 
South  Africa  as  anything  could  be,  and  puts 
it  in  the  power  of  the  disaffected  to  point  to 
the  hopelessness  of  Downing  Street  rule— 
which  they  do  not  fail  to  do. 

In  the  matter  of  appointments,  South  African 
opinion  seems  to  be  ignored  in  a  most  re- 
markable way.  Boers,  new-comers,  and  even 
foreigners — come  before  the  Uitlander  in 
various  ways.  This  is,  I  believe,  all  the  work  of 
a  lot  of  subordinates  and  nobodies.  It  is  all 
a  matter  of  opinion  how  things  will  shape  in 
Cape  Colony.  But  I  sometimes  have  a  dread 
that  England  will  need  one  more  downright 
frightening  to  bring  her  to  her  senses.  They 
seem  to  suppose  that  the  signing  of  peace 
finished  the  business,  and  that  they  can 
afford  again  to  play  the  fool.  An  old  Colonist 

in  khaki,  and  with  stars  on  his  shoulder,  stopped 

T 


146          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

me  in  the  street  and  said,  "  When  I  went  back 
to  Pretoria  one  of  the  first  things  I  heard  was, 
1  You  had  better  get  out  of  khaki  as  quick  as 
possible,  or  your  professional  interests  will 
suffer."  He  added,  "  And  that  in  our  newest 
colony !  "  I  am  no  alarmist,  and  am  not  now 
suggesting  any  danger,  but,  at  the  same  time, 
I  and  crowds  of  others  think  that  Englishmen 
are  still  in  a  fool's  paradise,  and  are  in  the  dark 
as  to  the  position. 

The  suggestion  in  my  last  was  good,  i.e.,  to 
let  a  few  travelled  men  knock  about  South 
Africa  incog,  and  without  introductions  to 
officials  (which  would  make  the  whole  thing 
useless).  Then  let  them  send  home  the  results 
of  their  journey  weekly. 

Some  of  the  officials  see  and  hear  very  little, 
and  move  in  only  one  groove.  ...  I  refer  to 
the  necessity  of  their  travelling  in  Cape  Colony, 
quite  as  much  as  here. 

Yours  sincerely. 


MISSIONS  AND  THE  NATIVE  QUESTION    147 


JOHANNESBURG, 

September  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — Native  Question. — 
...  I  think  that  the  mission  phase  of  the  native 
question  needs  revision  and  reconsideration  as 
much  as  any  other.  The  rival  sects  are  the 
nuisance  that  complicate  things,  ten  times  as 
much  as  they  do  in  any  other  church  work. 
Our  Archbishop  pointed  out  the  great  trouble 
when  I  was  in  Cape  Town.  It  appears  to 
me  that  the  only  missions  conducted  on  really 
rational  lines,  are  those  of  the  Moravians  and 
the  Trappist  Monasteries  —  rather  different 
creeds. 

These  are  under  no  compulsion  to  "play  up 
to  the  gallery,"  or,  rather,  to  the  London  plat- 
form. The  misfortune  is,  that  the  mission- 
ary steam  is  so  largely  dependent  on  the 
fuel  annually  supplied  at  Exeter  Hall.  I 
should  like  to  write  a  short  article  for 
publication  on  the  native  question,  only  it 
would  shock  too  many  worthy  excellent 
people,  who  can't  distinguish  between  reform 
and  profanity. 

The  movements  of  a  people  are  sometimes 


148           LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

strangely  simultaneous.  When  I  wrote  at 
about  the  time  of  peace  proclamation,  I  heard 
from  various  parts,  as  well  as  here,  of  an 
apparent  expectation  of  a  "  new  order  of 
things "  among  the  natives ;  but  the  wave 
subsided.  The  best  we  can  hope  is  that  our 
own  settlement  will  be  accomplished  before  the 
native  question  assumes  its  active  stage. 

Martial  Law. — I  have  just  heard  that  a 
further  extension  of  the  period  of  Martial  Law 
has  been  gazetted.  It  will  be  very  unpopular 
here,  but  it  is  a  wise  step.  I  only  hope  it 
is  true. 

Separation  of  Provinces. — Whichever  way 
Suspension  goes,  separation  is  a  trump 
card  if  England  would  only  see  it.  It 
would  knock  the  bottom  out  of  Cape  Town 
politics.  In  Eastern  Province,  British  feeling 
(now  neutralised)  would  at  once  tell,  and 
though,  in  the  North,  the  Boers,  and  also  the 
German  shopkeepers  in  up-country  "  dorps," 
may  be  indifferent,  still,  were  separation  once 
adopted,  the  improved  fiscal  position  resulting 
from  severance  from  West  would  be  appre- 
ciated at  once.  They  would  re-arrange 
customs  tariffs,  and  no  longer  see  the  lion's 
share  absorbed  by  the  West  as  they  do  nowt 


THE  HOME  PRESS  149 

As   *   admitted,    "  Cape    Town    is   our 

objective"  Breaking  the  extended  influence  of 
that  hereditary  anti  -  British  centre,  would 
relieve  the  tension  over  all  South  Africa,  just 
as  the  relief  of  Kimberley  did  in  the  war. 

An  outrageous  effort  at  centralisation  is  at 
this  time  in  contemplation,  namely,  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  Eastern  Districts  Court,  which  is 
one  more  important  step  towards  centralising 
everything  at  foot  of  Table  Mountain. 

Some   English  papers  are  very  depressing. 

The    " "   sees   a   necessity  that  South 

Africa  should  in  future  be  ruled  from  England 
— the  very  cause  of  all  the  blunders  of  the 
century  past ! 

The  Home  Press  is  far  from  infallible.  I 
know  a  correspondent  of  a  home  paper,  whose 
knowledge  of  South  Africa  is  nearly  confined 
to  the  Rand.  The  other  day  I  mentioned  an 
abuse  to  him.  Next  day  he  told  me  he  had 
interviewed  all  the  "heads  of  departments," 
who  told  him  that  what  I  said  was  all  a  mistake 
(of  course),  and  that  he  meant  to  stand  by  Lord 
Milner !  We  had  different  horizons  in  view. 

I  asked  Mr  to  send  some  letters  of 

mine  of  '96  for  you  to  read.     When  I  spoke  of 
*  One  of  the  Boer  leaders.— B.  C.  F. 


150          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

them  as  so  much  like  almanac  predictions,  I 
did  not  refer  to  the  matter,  but  to  the  style, 
which  suggested  a  condition  which  some  of 
us  felt  that  we  were  under — as  men  with  the 
sword  of  Damocles  hanging  over  us.  .  .  . — 
Yours,  etc. 


JOHANNESBURG, 

i$th  September  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — I  enclose  some 
newspaper  cuttings.  It  is  sheer  nonsense  to 
talk  about  the  discontent  as  the  result  of  a 
slump  in  the  share-market.  This  denotes  an 
acquaintance  with  Johannesburg,  not  of  this 
day  but  of  several  years  ago,  when  every  shop- 
keeper, clerk,  and  mechanic  had  a  few  pounds 
invested  in  shares.  Now,  not  one  man  in  fifty, 
perhaps  in  a  hundred,  deals  in  scrip. 

The  statement  is  a  misinformed  exaggera- 
tion of  the  fact  I  have  stated,  namely,  that  any 
financial  improvement  in  the  position  would 
make  the  discontent  less  audible. 

For  fear  of  playing  the  alarmist,  I  have  kept 
within  limits  in  speaking  of  the  discontent, 
which  is  considerable.  Some  is  unavoidable 
in  the  reconstruction,  but  very  much  is  from 


THE  SITUATION  AT  JOHANNESBURG     151 

causes      that      should      not      exist,     but     do 
exist. 

There  is  still  that  uneasy  suspicion  I  men- 
tioned some  time  ago,  that  Lord  Milner  is  not 
heartily  backed  from  home,  and  that  the 
disastrous  policy  of  over-ruling  the  man  on  the 
spot,  is  again,  as  twenty  years  ago,  beginning 
to  show  itself.  Men  fear  that  for  English 
party  purposes,  Transvaal  is  to  be  loaded  with 
taxation  in  which  all  South  Africa  should 
share,  but  which  Home  Government  is  afraid 
to  levy.  Already  taxation  is  heavier  than 
under  Kruger.  They  took  something  off 
stamps  (postage),  but  laid  a  vastly  heavier 
burden  on  all  sorts  of  other  things.  Instead 
of  going  on  quietly  with  the  old  gold-law,  a 
new  one  is  framed,  on  the  merits  of  which  I 
am  unable  to  form  an  opinion,  but  great 
dissatisfaction  is  caused.  Then,  Government 
departments,  which  by  now  should  be  in 
fair  working  order,  are  in  confusion.  Busi- 
ness men,  who  don't  trouble  about  politics, 
complain  that  transactions  they  could  put 
through  in  days  under  the  Boers,  now  take 
weeks !  involving  loss  of  time  and  interest  of 
money.  You  hear  it  at  every  turn.  Some  of 
the  appointments  made  by  the  nobodies  above 


152          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

alluded  to  are  certainly  very  curious.  Fancy 
the  annoyance  of  men,  after  long,  needless 
delay,  and  loss  of  interest  of  money,  seeing 
an  official  unable  to  reckon  5  per  cent,  on 
,£10,000!  and  a  group  of  men  waiting  at  the 
Customs'  Office,  while  another  official  is  trying 
to  find  out  the  third  of  eleven  shillings  and 
threepence,  who,  though  told,  stopped  to  work 
it  out  in  several  school-book  methods  before  he 
was  certain !  and  another  man  counting  every 
individual  stamp  on  a  ten-shilling  sheet !  Mr 
—  told  me  cases  of  these  "patronised" 
new  arrivals  being  given  appointments  on 
the  "repatriation"  staff — of  all  things  in  the 
world !  When  they  got  among  the  Boers, 
neither  could  understand  a  word  the  other 
said.  You  may  fancy  the  deadlock.  Many 
men  say  to  these  things,  "  There  is  more 
corruption  in  the  new  regime  than  in  the  old." 
These  may  seem  small  matters  to  you,  but 
they  create  much  friction,  and  add  to  Lord 
Milner's  enormous  burden.  The  salaries  paid 
are  a  bagatelle,  to  which  the  results  are  out  of 
all  proportion. 

I  think  the  Home  Government  much  under- 
rates the  magnitude  of  the  task  still  to  be 
done,  and  the  amount  of  combustible  elements 


THE  BOER  GENERALS  153 

in  South  Africa.  The  Bond  is  as  determined 
as  ever  to  hamper  British  Rule.  .  .  . 

I  suspect  that  no  one  in  the  place  is  more 
aware  of  the  grievances,  and  regrets  them 
more,  than  Lord  Milner. 

If  the  Home  Government  are  trifling  with 
him,  it  means  ruin  for  us,  and  nothing  need 
surprise  you  in  this  chosen  land  of  paradoxes 
and  absurdities. — I  am,  yours  sincerely. 


JOHANNESBURG, 

$th  October  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — Boer  Generals. — I 
hope  the  eyes  of  the  public  are  really  and 
permanently  opened  by  the  manifesto,  though 
some  papers  appeared  to  be  inviting  them  to 
say  smooth  things,  and  explain  away  the 

mischievous  tone  which  they  adopted.  

is  no  doubt  aware  now,  that  the  manifesto  was 
too  plain-spoken,  and  that  in  an  unguarded 
moment  the  mask  had  been  cast  aside. 

Nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  the  Boers 
(that  is,  the  political  section  and  wire-pullers) 
regard  the  end  of  the  war  in  the  light  of  a 
mere  check,  which,  though  very  serious,  is 

only  a    check.     Successful   emigration    would, 

u 


154          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

of  course,  finally  set  the  matter  at  rest. 
Whatever  newspapers  say,  or  omit  to  mention, 
ory  perhaps  do  not  hear  of,  I  am  sorry  to  learn 
through  private  individuals  that  the  boycott 
of  English  is  no  mere  canard,  but  a  most 
substantial  fact.  The  Cape  Attorney-General 
ordered  that  every  case  of  boycott  should  be 
reported  to  Government.  But  men  (young 
and  old)  from  all  parts  of  South  Africa,  are 
coming  here,  and  complain  of  boycott,  and  say, 
"  We  have  nothing  tangible  that  we  can  report 
to  Government."  The  attorney  says,  "  Men 
no  longer  care  to  employ  us,"  and  the  trader 
says,  "  Farmers  no  longer  come  to  buy  of  us, 
but  go  to  a  Dutch  or  German  store." 

It  is  well  that  our  rulers  should  see  behind 
the  scenes,  and  not  be  deceived  by  Boer 
journals,  who,  to  gain  their  ends,  may  profess 
friendliness.  I  used  to  set  down  the  boycott  to 
mere  talk,  till  I  found  that  long-established 
middle-aged  men  had  to  look  about  for  fresh 
pastures.  This  has  disappointed  many  on  this 
side,  and  should  undeceive  over-optimism  at 
home.  Apart  from  the  generally  defiant  tone 
in  the  more  purely  Boer  districts,  many  little 
facts  crop  up  which  suggest  that  watchfulness 
is  needed.  For  instance,  a  very  clever  Trans- 


BOYCOTTING  155 

vaal  Dutchman,  who  often  outwitted  English 
commanders,  has,  since  his  return  from  banish- 
ment, been  travelling  to  and  fro  between 

, , ,  and  other  anti- British 

towns,  instead  of  following  the  business  for 
which  he  threw  up  farming,  before  the  war. 
There  are  few  more  able,  sharp-witted  men  in 
the  country. 

Lord  Milner  wants  such  a  lieutenant  as 
Jameson  was  to  Rhodes,  with  a  dash  of  the 
Cromwell  in  him,  and  ability  to  take  short  cuts 
and  brush  aside  precedent  and  officialism. 

I  send  the  Leader,  with  report  of  meeting 
for  formation  of  Political  Association.*  I 
believe  the  movers  in  the  matter  are  sound, 
loyal  men,  and  of  moderate  views.  As  in  all 
such  cases,  many  leading  lights  stand  aside  for 
the  time  being,  and  a  number  of  men  whom 
Lord  Milner  has  consulted  at  times,  or 
nominated  to  the  Town  Council,  naturally 
hesitate  to  join  an  association,  the  action  of 
which  experience  only  can  prove,  though  the 
motives  of  its  leaders  are  correct.  I  think  it 
will  prove  a  healthy  safety-valve.  Men  feel 

*  The  danger  in  this  movement  is  from  the  demagogue 
element,  which  at  once  showed  itself,  and  may  cause 
it  to  be  dropped. 


156          LETTERS  FROM  AN  U1TLANDER 

sore  at  the  fact  that,  while  a  Parliament  with 
an  openly  disloyal  majority  sits  at  the  Cape, 
they  here  should  have  no  voice  at  all,  though 
they  have  been  chief  sufferers  by  the  war,  and 
are  to  be  taxed  to  defray  its  expenses — expenses 
to  a  large  extent  resulting  from  rebellion  in 
Cape  Colony. 

The  Transvaal  has  a  strong  case  as  against 
the  neighbouring  Colonies.  I  can't  understand 
why  no  advocate  has  yet  stood  forward  in  its 
cause.  With  a  less  powerful  man  than  Lord 
Milner,  our  case  would  be  hopeless. 

He  probably  knows  as  well  as  we  do,  the 
labyrinth  of  muddle  in  which  some  of  his 
subordinates  are  groping  about,  and  the  public 
duly  appreciates  his  manly  rectitude,  in  at 
once  cancelling  proclamations  issued,  when  the 
stupidities  which  escaped  his  legal  advisers 
were  pointed  out.  This  does  not  refer  to  the 
judges,  who  are  among  the  fortunate  appoint- 
ments, and  in  whom  all  have  confidence. — I  am, 
yours  very  truly. 


TRANSVAAL  TAX  ON  CAPE  BRANDY      157 

JOHANNESBURG, 

yth  November  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — One  of  the  most 
useful  pieces  of  legislation  that  we  have  seen, 
has  just  been  carried  through  by  Lord  Milner's 
Government,  by  its  imposing  a  duty  of  fourteen 
shillings  a  gallon  on  Cape  brandy.  Whether 
such  an  item  of  news  is  likely  to  find  its  way 
into  the  Home  Press,  I  am  not  aware.  The 
fiscal  advantage  is  but  trifling  compared  with 
the  political  effect.  Sprigg  has  already  made 
the  discovery,  that  a  Customs  union  may  be 
very  desirable. 

This  duty  is  the  most  disconcerting  fact 
that  the  Cape  Town  party  has  had  to  face  for 
a  long  time,  and  their  only  consolation  is  in 
the  fact  that,  owing  to  the  war,  there  is  so 
much  money  among  the  native  population  of 
the  Eastern  Province,  and  that  they  have 
plenty  of  money  still  left  with  which  to  buy 
brandy ! 

The  voting  power  of  beer  in  the  Imperial 
Parliament,  is  nothing  to  that  of  brandy  in  the 
Cape  Parliament. 

I  cannot  understand  why  the  authorities 
refuse  to  see  the  important  bearings  of  this,  on 


158 

the  question  of  Separation  of  the  Provinces. 
This  is  no  mere  hobby  of  mine.  Separation 
is  the  trump  card  of  the  Home  Government, 
an  instantaneous  remedy  for  a  long-standing 
disease.  Our  Transvaal  consumption  of 
brandy  is  smaller  than  that  of  the  Eastern 
Province,  whose  population  is  only  too  anxious 
to  tax  it,  as  a  check  to  native  drunkenness, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  as  a  means  of  lowering 
the  tariff  on  necessaries. 

Of  course  separation  would  bring  the  chief 
anti- British  population  to  its  knees,  and  give 
to  a  new  and  friendly  state,  the  dominant 
position  at  present  held  by  a  practically  hostile 
one. 

If  Mr  Chamberlain  grants  separation,  the 
South  African  problem  will  be  finally  solved.* 

Hopelessness  is  not  a  British  trait,  but  I  fear 
that  a  certain  degree  of  it  has  settled  down  on 
Eastern  Colonists. 

*  While  the  writer  takes  this  strong  view  of  the 
necessity  of  cutting  off  the  Western  half  of  Cape 
Colony  from  the  Eastern,  others,  as  I  have  mentioned 
in  a  previous  footnote  (Western  men,  but  equally  loyal), 
consider  that  possibly  there  might  thus  be  produced  a 
Colony  in  which  loyalty  got  no  voice. 

Yet  surely  the  strongest,  and  therefore  safest,  course 
might  be  to  separate  the  two,  and,  if  necessary, 
have  special  political  arrangements  for  the  West,  as 


VIEWS  OF  OLD  COLONISTS  159 

I  heard  the  other  day  from  an  able  writer 
on  politics,  and  he  told  me  that  he  would  not 
attend  the  Press  Congress  at  Cape  Town  this 
year,  and  subject  himself  to  coming  in  contact 

with and  -  — ,  whose  defection  had 

been  too  odious  and  contemptible  for  the  men 
to  be  met  as  honourable  opponents. 

Even  hopelessness  is  excusable  in  a  fight 
against  impossible  odds !  and  this  is  the 
position  of  the  British  half  of  Cape  Colony. 
I  believe,  and  I  find  most  old  Colonists  believe, 
that  Mr  Chamberlain  will  find  his  most  serious 
business,  not  in  the  Transvaal,  but  in  Cape 
Town.  Whatever  optimistic  liberals  may  say, 
the  Africander  Bond  has  not  budged  one  inch 
from  its  old  programme. 

I  mention  old  Colonists  for  this  reason.  I 
often  seriously  doubt  whether  the  British  public 
is  as  well  informed  of  South  African  questions 
as  it  might  be.  Johannesburg  has  become  the 
"hub"  of  South  Africa,  and  perhaps  contains 
its  most  able  professional  writers.  But  not  a 

long  as  it  continues  untrustworthy — if  needed,  even 
Martial  Law  tactfully  administered.  Indeed,  we  may 
make  up  our  minds  that  unless  we  can  clearly  perceive, 
and  firmly  deal  with  questions  of  this  sort,  we  really 
may  as  well  give  up  trying  to  retain  the  control  of  an 
Empire  at  all.— B.  C.  F. 


160          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

few  of  them  know  nothing  of  South  Africa 
outside  the  hub,  and  they  too  often  come  out 
to  write  up  preconceived  ideas,  and  do  not 
want  to  hear  facts  which  do  not  back  up 
those  ideas. 

The  most  intricate  task  of  Lord  Milner  is 
in  front  of  him.  It  is  an  immense  misfortune 
that  there  is  no  Rhodes  to  relieve  the  pressure 
at  the  circumference  of  the  circle,  and  to  keep 

men  like and in   their  places. 

New  men,  though  clever,  have  much  to  learn, 
and,  when  told  so,  are  apt  to  hint  that  you  are 
not  sound  on  the  British  side  !  * 

When  peace  was  declared,  I  told  you  that 
there  were  signs  of  native  restlessness.  This 

*  A  crying  need,  not  only  in  South  Africa,  but  in  all 
our  Colonies,  is  the  growth  of  a  leisured  class  of  fairly 
well-to-do  men — a  sufficiency  of  whom  could  pursue  a 
political  career,  untrammelled  by  business  cares,  and 
free  to  devote  their  time  solely  to  the  interests  of  the 
public. 

So  many  of  our  successful  Colonists,  appear  to  regard 
the  land  in  which  they  have  spent  their  active  and 
useful  lives,  as  a  mere  counting-house,  which  they  quit 
the  moment  they  can,  to  hurry  back  to  England,  buy 
a  "  place  "  and  "  found  a  family." 

Why  cannot  they,  so  to  speak,  do  both  —  keep  up 
their  interest  in  the  Colony,  and  constitute  themselves 
pillars  of  that  State,  as  well  as  supports  to  the  Old 
Country  during  part  of  every  year  ? — B.  C.  F. 


AN  IMPROVED  SITUATION  161 

strangely  subsided,  and  they  are  much  as 
before,  at  present.  But  this  does  not  alter  the 
fact,  that  the  native  question  looms  very  large 
and  certain  in  the  future.* 

Another  matter  has  changed  for  the  better. 
Some  months  back  there  was  much  angry 
discontent  expressed  by  the  white  population, 
and  a  very  unpleasant  tone  adopted.  Times 
are  still  as  hard,  perhaps  worse  in  some 
respects,  and  there  is  still  discontent,  but  the 
more  general  tone  now  is  (as  I  heard  a  man 
say  yesterday),  "We  can't  help  it,  but  must 
grin  and  bear  it." 

We  are  all  very  anxious  as  to  the  results  of 
Mr  Chamberlain's  mission.  If  they  allay  the 
fears  which  are  now  keeping  capital  out  of  the 
country,  and  thus  set  things  going  and  give 
employment  to  all,  men  of  both  races  will 
soon  settle  down  quietly.  I  take  it  that  no 
class  of  men  are  so  dangerous  as  the 
unemployed — in  any  country ;  and  just  now 
there  is  much  irritation,  on  account  of  railway 

*  For  a  good  political  essay  on  this  and  many  kindred 
topics,  that  bear  on  the  general  question  of  our  dealings 
with  the  fringes  of  the  Empire,  see  Roosevelt's  Stren- 
uous Life,  chapter  "  Expansion  and  Peace,"  a  chapter 
which  one  would  like  to  see  the  whole  House  of  Commons 
forced  to  learn  by  heart ! — B.  C.  F, 

X 


162          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

clerks  and  men  in  a  variety  of  subordinate 
positions  being  imported  men. 

loth. — The  cable  summary  of  the  Spec- 
tators article  on  Germany  is  very  unpleasant 
reading,  but  I  trust  that  the  subject  (like  our 
native  question)  is  not  one  of  the  immediate 
future. 

I  have  lived  in  a  state  of  chronic  anxiety  as 
to  the  possibility  of  European  trouble. 

Whatever  the  papers  may  say,  there  is  still 
an  abundant  supply  of  Boer  small  arms  and 
ammunition  about  the  country,  and  the 
occasional  captures  made  do  not  materially 
affect  the  gross  amount.*  Boers  in  friendly 
conversation  not  only  admit  this,  but  treat  it 
as  a  matter  of  course,  and  Colonial  volunteers 
believe  it.  Probably  the  authorities  know  how 
the  matter  stands,  but  military  men  do  not 
encourage  civilians  to  ask  questions,  or  suggest 
anything  on  matters  concerning  their  profession 
— but  are  decidedly  stand-off,  if  questioned. 

Only  last  week  I  heard,  on  undoubted 
authority,  of  a  great  danger  we  escaped  early 

*  I  hear  that  quantities  of  arms  and  ammunition  are 
even  now  being  imported,  and  that  the  Cape  Colony 
authorities  say  they  are  powerless  to  prevent  this,  as  it 
is  a  "free  country." 


THE  GERMAN  SETTLERS  163 

in  the  war.  That  fine  old  veteran,  Colonel 
Schermbrucker,  M.L.A.,  addressed  a  meeting 
of  the  German  settlers  in  Kaffraria ;  the 
sedative  effects  we  recognised  at  the  time,  but 
we  did  not  then  know  how  imminent  had  been 
the  danger.  Costly  mausers  were  seen  in  the 
cottages  of  many  of  these  very  poor  and 
penurious  people,  and  I  am  assured  that  they 
were  on  the  point  of  rising,  when  Colonel 
Schermbrucker,  their  old  friend,  went  round 
and  won  them  over  to  loyalty.  Had  they  risen, 
much  of  the  large  German  substratum  in  East 
London  and  Port  Elizabeth  must  inevitably 
have  joined,  and  thus  the  enemy  would  have  had 
an  enormous  accession  of  strength,  and  in  a 
district  which,  as  things  turned  out,  rendered 
us  much  aid. 

I  am  greatly  surprised  at  the  Boers  being 
brought  back  in  such  numbers  at  this  stage. 

People  talk  calmly  about  "all  coming  right 
with  patience."  Were  we  merely  going 
through  a  commercial  crisis  this  would  be 
quite  true.  But  I  am  sure  that  there  are 
many  risks  in  allowing  the  present  stagnation 
to  continue  too  long.  It  has  just  been  decided, 
by  a  test  case,  that  all  rents  and  interest  on 
bonds  for  the  period  of  the  war  must  be  paid 


164          LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

up,  a  decision  which  has  caused  dismay  to 
hundreds.  It  was  on  a  technical  point — that 
is,  that  Kruger's  proclamation  had  not  been 
"  confirmed  by  the  Raad" 

This,  and  many  other  troubles,  would  lose 
their  keen  edge  if  the  general  business  of  the 
Rand  was  set  going. 

The  suspense  as  to  Mr  Chamberlain's 
taxation  schemes,  hangs  like  a  cloud  over,  not 
only  the  Rand,  but  all  South  Africa. 

Once  restore  a  feeling  of  security,  and  the 
disaffected  part  of  the  population  will  find 
themselves  in  a  hopeless  minority. — I  remain, 
dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  yours  sincerely. 


SHIPPING    RING 

JOHANNESBURG, 
2\th  November  1902. 

Dear  Sir  Bartle  Frere, — I  enclose  some 
newspaper  cuttings ;  possibly  the  subject  of 
that  on  the  Shipping  Ring  is  already  well 
known  at  home,  but  I  doubt  if  the  commercial 
community  realises  how  grave  the  situation 
is,  or  how  immediate  the  danger  to  British 


THE  SHIPPING  RING  165 

interests.  It  has  been  so  long  talked  of, 
that  it  has  become  too  familiar  to  rouse  men 
to  the  action  demanded,  and  the  old  fiction 
is  repeated  that  competition  must  set  these 
things  right.  Endless  debates  on  2^-  per  cent, 
preferential  duties,  in  favour  of  British  goods, 
are  simply  waste  of  time,  when  a  grasping 
shipping  ring  is  driving  thousands  of  tons 
of  shipping,  from  British  to  Continental  ports. 
A  remedy  by  fiscal  means,  is  merely  a  case 
of  "  in  at  the  spigot  and  out  at  the  bung-hole." 

Individual  merchants  can  do  nothing,  how- 
ever patriotic.  They  say,  that  for  them  to 
act  against  the  ring,  is  not  only  to  lose  their 
own  trade,  but  to  hand  it  over  to  those  who 
work  with  the  ring. 

As  far  as  South  Africa  is  concerned,  those 
optimistic  reports  and  plausible  statistics,  pub- 
lished from  time  to  time  on  British  trade,  are 
mere  delusion — of  course  every  nation  can 
show  an  advance. 

The  fact  that  remains  in  the  background  is, 
that  Continentals  and  Americans  are  strength- 
ening their  foothold  here,  and  England  is  not. 
An  importer  remarked  to  me  that,  as  far  as  he 
could  see,  everything  pointed  to  the  decline  of 
our  trade  as  compared  with  the  trade  of  the 


166           LETTERS  FROM  AN  UITLANDER 

foreigners,  with  South  Africa.  The  latter  are 
increasing  their  manufacturing  plant  faster 
than  we  are,  in  all  directions,  and  can  take 
orders  for  quantities  and  for  quick  delivery, 
that  the  English  are  obliged  to  refuse.  This, 
plus  our  conservative  ideas  on  makes  and 
patterns,  etc.,  is  bad  enough  of  itself,  without 
the  curse  of  a  shipping  ring.  England,  like 
the  Rand,  suffers  from  too  much  gold  in  too  few 
hands. 

The  men  who  built  up  her  trade  in  the  first 
half  of  the  century  got  rich,  and  their  sons  and 
grandsons  look  on  the  factory  and  office  as 
necessary  evils,  encroaching  on  athletics,  golf, 
and  grouse  shooting.  If  our  neighbours  throw 
their  whole  energy  into  trade,  they  will  find 
that  the  "survival  of  the  fittest  "is  an  im- 
mutable law,  and  so  shall  we. 

There  is  great  depression  here,  and  the 
uncertainty,  and  long  delay  in  declaration  of 
taxation  measures,  is  working  much  mischief, 
and  checking  enterprise.  And  as  all  South 
Africa  looks,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  share 
Rand  prosperity,  the  recovery  of  the  whole 
country  is  retarded.  There  is  far  less  angry 
talk ;  but  the  contrast  is  striking,  between  the 
buoyant  population  of  five  or  six  years  ago, 


ANXIOUS  WAITING  167 

and  the  waiting,  anxious  crowd  of  to-day. 
The  tone  of  English  papers  and  reviews  adds 
not  a  little  to  the  unrest.  With  all  the 
thousands  travelling  to  and  from  England, 
I  cannot  understand  the  utterly  unreal  edi- 
torial pictures  drawn  of  the  Rand  and  its  men. 
When  they  do  grasp  some  fact,  it  is  generally 
neutralised  by  assumptions  and  guesses. 
Everything  is  presented  out  of  perspective ; 
as  in  pre- Raphael  work,  in  which  the  dead 
leaf  or  the  bird  is  as  prominent  as  the 
mountain. 

Taxing  the  Rand  population  is  like  imposing 
a  tax  on  a  man  for  having  been  burnt  out 
of  his  house.  Beside  the  Boers,  we  are  the 
only  people  who  have  lost  by  the  war.  Cape 
Town,  Port  Elizabeth,  and  Durban  have  had 
a  splendid  harvest,  and  in  this  the  districts 
adjacent  to  them  have  shared.  Again,  there 
is  the  bitter  remembrance,  that  the  Cape 
Bond  party  shares  equally  with  the  Pretoria 
oligarchy,  the  responsibility  for  the  war. — I 
remain,  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  yours  sincerely. 


Printed  by 
Oliver  &   Boyd 

Edinburgh. 


MURRAY'S 
IMPERIAL     LIBRARY 


STANDARD    WORKS. 

Cloth,   in  specially  designed  binding,  gilt  top,   &c. 


FIELD-MARSHAL    SIR    DONALD   STEWART,  G.C.B., 

G.C.S.I  ,  etc.     The  Story  of  his  Life.     Edited  by  G.  R.  ELSMIE,  C.S.I. 

Illustrations,  &C.     Demy  8vo. 

LIFE  OF  JOHN  COLBORNE,  FIELD-MARSHAL  LORD 
SEATON,  G.C.B.  Edited  by  G.  C.  MOORE  SMITH.  Demy  8vo. 

ROUND  THE  HORN  BEFORE  THE  MAST.    An  Account 

of  a  Voyage  from  San  Francisco  round  Cape  Horn  to  Liverpool  in  a  Four- 
masted  "Windjammer."      By  A.  BASIL  LUBBOCK.     Illustrations.     Cr.  8vo. 

A   FOREIGN   VIEW  OF  ENGLAND   IN  THE   REIGNS 

OF   GEORGE   I.  AND  GEORGE   II.       Translated  by  Madame  van 

MUVDEN.    With  a  Photogravure  Plate  and  many  other  Illustrations.   Cr.  8vo. 

"  .     .     .     very  amusing  correspondence    .     .     .     the  freshness  and  simplicity 

lend  a  peculiar  charm  to  the  book."— Standard. 

THE     HOME     MECHANIC.     By   JOHN   WRIGHT.     With  250 

Illustrations.     Med.  8vo. 

The  aim  of  the  author  has  been  to  produce  a  book  which  shall  enable  a  house- 
holder to  dp  most  of  the  common  repairs  required  in  his  house,  and  to  give  him 
practical  hints  as  to  the  actual  doing  of  the  work,  thus  rendering  him  to  a  great 
extent,  independent  of  hired  labour. 

THE   GROWTH    OF  THE  EMPIRE.    An  Historical  Review 

'  of  Greater  Britain.      By  A.  W.  JOSE.     Maps  and  Diagrams.     Cr.  8vo. 
"    .     .    .     an  eminently  useful  book    ...    as  serviceable  as  it  is  readable."— 

The  Globe. 

THE  BLACK  POLICE  OF  QUEENSLAND.  Reminiscences 
of  the  Early  Days  of  the  Colony.  Bv  EPWARD  B.  KKNNEDV.  Illustrations. 
Cr.  8vo, 


MURRAY'S    IMPERIAL     LIBRARY 


STANDARD     WORKS— continued. 

TEN    THOUSAND     MILES     IN     PERSIA.     A  Record  of 

Eight  Years'  constant  Travel  in  Eastern  and  Southern  Iran.  By  Major 
PERCY  MOLESWORTH  SYKES  (Queen's  Bays),  H.M.  Consul  at  Herman. 
Illustrations.  Med.  8vo. 

"There has  been  nothing  among  recent  publications  to  compare  in  interest  and 
importance. " — Standa  nl. 

SAVAGE     ISLAND.      An  Account  of  a  Mission  to   Niue   and 
Tonga  in  the   Pacific  Ocean.      By    BASIL    THOMSON,   late    H.M.    Special 
Commissioner.     Illustrations.     Cr.  8vo. 
"...     We  heartily  recommend  this  instructive  and  diverting  volume." — 

Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

A   DOCTOR   IN    KHAKI.    Impressions  of  War  and  of  Hospital 
Work  in  South  Africa.     By  FRANCIS  FREMANTLE,  M.A.,  M.B.    Illustrations. 
Cr.  8vo. 
"...     Is  full  of  valuable  and  instructive  matter." — Times. 

JOHN   CHINAMAN  AND   A   FEW  OTHERS.     By  E.   H. 

PARKER,  Professor  of  Chinese  at  the  Owens  College.     Illustrations.     Cr.  8vo. 

CHINA  :     Her    History,   Diplomacy   and   Commerce,   from   the 

Earliest  Times  to  the  Present  Day.    By  E.  H.  PARKER.    Maps,  &c.   Cr.  8vo. 

"Mr.  E.  H.  Parker  brings  to  bear  upon  his  subject  an  experience,  an  amount  of 

personal  insight,  and  a  capacity  for  criticism  so  unusual,  as  to  endow  his  pages 

with  an  intrinsic  merit  practically  unequalled." — Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

OUR     NAVAL     HEROES.      BY   VARIOUS   WRITERS.     Edited 

by  G.  E.  MARINDIN,  M.A.   With  a  Preface  by  Rear-Admiral  Lord  CHARLES 

BERESFORD.    Containing  short  lives  of  twenty  of  our  most  famous  Admirals. 

Portraits.     Demy  8vo. 

"...    the  realization  of  a  happy  inspiration  happily  pursued." — Vanity  Fair. 

LIEUT-COL  JOHN   HAUGHTON,   COMMANDANT  OF 

THE  36th    SIKHS.      A   Memoir  by   Major  A.   C.  YATE,   2nd   (Duke  of 
Connaught's  Own)  Baluch  Battalion:  F.R.G.S.     Illustrations.     Demy  8vo. 
"  It  will  stir  every  Englishman's  blood." — Morning  Post. 

THE  LIFE  OF  ABDUR   RAHMAN,  Amir  of  Afghanistan. 

Edited  by  MIR  MUNSHI  SULTAN  MOHAMMAD  KHAN,  Secretary  of  State  of 
Afghanistan.     Illustrations.     Demy  8vo.     2  Vols. 

"...     a  very  readable  book,   and  a   very   valuable  historical  document. 
....    told  with  unreserved  frankness  and  soberness  of  judgment" — The  Times. 

AT    SCHOOL    AND    AT     SEA.        Sketches    of    Life     and 

Character  at  Harrow  in  the  Forties,  and  subsequently  in  the  Royal  Navy ; 
with  Experiences  and  Adventures  on  the  Australian  Station,  in  the  South 
Seas,   in   the   Black   Sea,   in   the  Trenches  at   Sebastopol,   &c.,   &c.      By 
"  MARTELLO  TOWER,"  a  Naval  Officer.     With  Illustrations.     DemySvo. 
"A  charming   book   of   naval   recollections    .      .     .     Should   prove  excellent 
reading,  alike  to  those  who  desire  amusement,  or  simply  instruction." — 

Army  and  Navy  Record. 

AFRICAN    INCIDENTS.     Personal  Experiences  in  Egypt  and 
Unyoro.    By  Major  A.  B.  THRUSTON     With  an  Introduction  by  General  Sir 
ARCHIBALD   HUNTER,    K.C.B.,   D.S.O.     Illustrations.     DemySvo. 
"...    we  do  not  remember  to  have  met  with  any  more  vivid  or  sincere 
account  of  work  in  Africa." — World, 


OF    STANDARD     WORKS. 


STANDARD    WQ-RKS-contiittud. 
THE  YANG-TZE   VALLEY  AND   BEYOND.     An  Account 

of  Journeys  in  Central  and  Western  China.  By  Mrs.  BISHOP  (ISABELLA 
L.  BIRD),  F.R.G.S.  Illustrations.  Demy  8vo. 

"...     we  have  in  the  book  under  notice,  a  perfect  model  of  what  a  book 
of  travels  ought  to  be." — The  Japan  Mail. 

EIGHTEEN     YEARS     IN    THE    KHYBER.       1879-1898. 

With  Personal  Reminiscences  of  Service  in  India,  and  especially  among  the 
Tribes  on  our  X.W.  Frontier.  By  Colonel  Sir  ROBERT  WARBURTON, 
K.C.I.E.,  C.S.I.,  etc.  Illustrations.  Demy  8vo. 

"...    The  sketches  of  native  character  and  habits  with  which  his  book 
abounds  would  alone  render  it  invaluable." — World. 

THE  MAKING  OF  A  FRONTIER.    Five  Years'  Experiences 

and  Adventures  in  Gilgit,  Hunza  Nagar,  Chitral,  and  the  Eastern  Hindu- 
Rush.       By   Colonel   ALGERNON    DURAND,    C.B.,  C.I.E.        Illustrations. 
Demy  8vo. 
"  A  work  which  is  full  of  life  and  movement."— Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

LUMSDEN     OF     THE     GUIDES.        Being    a    Sketch    of 

the  Life  of  Lieut.-Gen.  Sir  Harry  Burnett  Lumsden,  K.C.S.I.,  C.B.      By 
General  Sir  PETER  S.  LUMSDEN,  G.C.B.,  C.S.I.,  and  GEORGE  R.  ELSMIE, 
C.S.I.     Illustrations.     Demy  8vo. 
"...    Few  more  interesting  records  of  brilliant  and  undying  work."     World. 

THE     LIFE    OF    JOHN     NICHOLSON,    Soldier    and 

Administrator.  Based  on  Private  and  hitherto  Unpublished  Documents. 
By  Captain  L.  J.  TROTTER.  With  Portraits,  Maps,  &c.  Demy  8vo. 


MURRAY'S    IMPERIAL     LIBRARY 


FICTION. 

In  Cloth  and  Paper  Covers.        Crown  8vo. 

DANNY.     By  ALFRED  OLLIVANT,  Author  of  "  Owd  Bob." 

TALES  OF  A  FAR  RIDING.  By  OLIVER  ONIONS,  Author 
of  "The  Compleat  Bachelor." 

LESLIE  FARQUHAR.  By  ROSALINE  MASSON,  Author  of 
"  In  Our  Town." 

MOTH  AND  RUST,  together  with  GEOFFREY'S  WIFE, 
AND  THE  PITFALL.  By  MARY  CHOLMONDELEY,  Author  of  "Red 
Pottage." 

THE    LIFE    OF    JOHN    WILLIAM    WALSHE,    F.S.A. 

Edited,  with   an   Introduction,   by   MONTGOMERY   CARMICHAEL,   Author  of 
"  In  Tuscany,"  &c. 
"...     one  of  the  most  charming  books  we  have  read." — Morning  Post. 

THE    VALLEY    OF    DECISION.      By  EDITH  WHARTON. 

"A  really  brilliant  work." — Spectator. 

THE     SHADOWY    THIRD.      By   HORACE   ANNESLEY 

VACHELL. 
"A  Novel  worth  reading." — Outlook. 

HIGH     TREASON.      A  Tale  of  the  Days  of  George  II. 

"  Well  imagined — well  constructed,  well  sustained  and  admirably  written."— 

World. 

THE     TRIAL     OF     MAN.       An  Allegorical  Romance. 

"...     a  fine  conception  carefully  thought  out  and  realised." — The  Times. 

A    MODERN    ANTAEUS.       By  the  Writer  of  "  An  English- 

woman's  Love  Letters." 
"  One  of  the  finest  and  best  books  that  have  appeared." — Daily  News. 

THE     CAVALIER.      A  Tale  of  Life  and  Adventures  during  the 

American  Civil  War.     By  G.  W.  CABLE. 
"  A  vivid  and  fascinating  story." — Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

THE     ROAD    TO    FRONTENAC.      A  Novel  of  the  days  of 

the  French  Occupation  of  Canada.     By  SAMUEL  MERWIN. 
"A  good  swinging  historical  novel."— Academy. 

THE    WOOING    OF     GREY     EYES,    and    other    Stories. 

By  RICCARDO  STEPHENS. 
"Thrillingly  interesting,  extremely  well  written." — The  Queen. 


OF    FICTION.     LIGHT    LITERATURE,     &c. 


FICTION— continued. 

THE     WISE     MAN     OF     STERNCROSS.        Hy  the  Lady 

AUGUSTA  NOEL,  Author  of  "  From  Generation  to  Generation." 
"This  is  a  most  striking  novel." — Standard. 

MISTRESS     NELL.      A  Merry  Tale  of  a   Merry  Time.      By 
GEORGE  C.  HAZELTON,  Junr. 

CRUCIAL       INSTANCES.          Short    Stories.          By   EDITH 

\VHAKTON,  Author  of  "A  Gift  from  the  Grave." 
"...   a  volume  of  remarkable  quality."- — Daily  Telegraph. 

LOVE      IDYLLS.        By    S.    R.    CROCKETT.    Author   of    "The 

Stickit  Minister." 

"...     Mr.  Crockett  has  never  written  better  than  in  these  '  Love  Idylls.'  " 

— The  Dundee  A  dvertiser. 

AN  ENGLISHWOMAN'S  LOVE  LETTERS. 

"...     Nothing  could  be  more  intensely  human,  no  cry  of  a  human  soul  more 
passionate.     Few  will  read  it  dry-eyed."- — Vanity  Fair. 

THE     RESCUE.      By  ANNE   DOUGLAS    SEDGWICK,   Author    of 

"  The  Confounding  of  Camelia." 
"...     is  a  masterly  little  work     .     .     .     intensely  interesting. " — 

St.  James's  Gazette. 

TRISTRAM     OF     BLENT.      An  Episode  in  the  Story  of  an 

Ancient  House.     By  ANTHONY  HOPE. 

"...    often  epigrammatic,  often  paradoxical,  but  still  more  often  delightfully 
humourous." — The  Times. 

THE    WORLDLINGS.      By    LEONARD    MERRICK,    Author  of 

"The  Actor  Manager,"  "  One  Man's  View."  &c. 
"...     It  is  a  keen  delight  to  come  upon  a  book  like  this," — Glasgow  Herald. 

THE     HEART'S    HIGHWAY.     A  Romance  of  Virginia  in  the 

Seventeenth  Century.      By  MARY  E.  WILKINS. 
"  Miss  Wilkins  is  to  be  congratulated  on  a  striking  success." — Athenteum. 

A   VIZIER'S   DAUGHTER.     A  Tale  of  the  Hazara  War.     By 
LILLIAS  HAMILTON,  M.D.,  sometime  Medical  Adviser  to  ABDUR  RAHMAN, 
Amir  of  Afghanistan.     Illustrations. 
"  Miss  Lillias  Hamilton  enjoyed  unique  opportunities,  and  has  turned  them  to 

excellent  and  perfectly  legitimate  account  in  her  interesting  story." — Spectator. 

JOHN     CHARITY.     A  Tale  of  the  Early  Part  of  Her  Majesty's 
Reign.      By  HORACE  ANNESLEY  VACHELL,  Author  of  "The  Procession  of 
Life,"  &c.  " 
"The  igth  Century  '  Westward  Ho.'  "—Sheffield  Daily  Telegraph. 

ON     PETER'S     ISLAND.      A    Story   of    Russian    Life.      By 

ARTHUR  R.  ROPES  and  MARY  E.  ROPES. 

"     .     .     •     We  cannot  name  any  writer  since  Dumas  who  approaches  the  authors 
of  this  grim  story." — World. 


MURRAY'S    IMPERIAL    LIBRARY 


FICTION— continued. 

ON    THE    WING    OF    OCCASIONS.     Stories  of  the  Secret 
Service  in  America  during  the  War  of  1860-1.    By  JOEL  CHANDLER  HARRIS, 
Author  of  "  Uncle  Remus." 
"  On  the  strength  of  this  volume  alone,  Mr.  Harris  deserves  to  be  ranked  among 

the  tribe  of  literary  benefactors." — Spectator. 

A     PRINCESS     OF    ARCADY.      By  ARTHUR  HENRY. 

"...     a  book  of  unique  charm     .     .     .     quite  apart  from  the  ordinary." 

— Dundee  Advertiser. 

PARSON     PETER.       By  ARTHUR  H.  NORWAY. 

"  ...  A  grand  book,  breathing  health  and  the  salt  Western  breezes  in 
every  line." — County  Gentleman. 

A    GENTLEMAN.     By  the  Honourable  Mrs.  WALTER  FORBES. 

Author  of  "  Blight." 

"This  is  one  of  the  most  charmingly  written  stories  we  have  had  the  pleasure  of 
reading  for  many  years." — County  Gentleman. 

THE     DOMINE'S    GARDEN.      A   Story  of  Old  New  York. 

By  IMOGEN  CLARK. 
"  A  remarkable  novel   .    .    .  Told  with  poetry,  grace  and  dignity." — The  Spectator. 

THE    SNARES    OF    THE    WORLD.     By  HAMILTON  AIDE. 

"...  Has  an  actuality  and  vividness  not  common  to  books  which  deal 
almost  wholly  with  the  emotions." — Morning  Post. 

THE   SWORD    OF    THE    KING.      A  Romance  of  the  time 

of  William  of  Orange.    By  RONALD  MACDONALD. 
"...     a  good  'bustling'  romance,  with  plenty  of  adventure." — Spectator. 

UNDER    THE    SJAMBOK.     A  Tale  of  the  Transvaal.     A 

Novel.    By  GEORGE  HANSBY  RUSSELL. 
".    .    .    .    of  almost  breathless  interest." — St.  James's  Gazette. 

LESSER    DESTINIES.     A  Novel.     By  SAMUEL  GORDON. 

Author  of  "  A  Handful  of  Exotics,"  and  "  In  Years  of  Transition." 

"  There  is  more  knowledge  of  human  nature  in  Mr.  Gordon's  book  than  in  the 
works  of  those  who  excel  him  in  the  rigour  of  their  realism." — Spectator. 

ESTHER    VANHOMRIGH.      By  MARGARET   L.   WOODS. 
Author  of  "  A  Villlage  Tragedy,"  &c.,  &c. 

"...  We  believe  that  this  book  will  gain  by  time,  and  remain  as  the  finest 
example  of  an  historical  novel  since  the  appearance  of  '  Esmond '  and  '  The 
Virginians." — Review  of  Reviews. 

MARCIA.       By    W.    E.    NORRIS,    Author    of    "  Thirlby    Hall," 
"  Major  and  Minor,"  &c.,  &c. 

"...  The  buoyancy  of  style  and  freshness  of  tone  carry  the  reader 
unfatigued  to  the  end.  — Saturday  Review. 


OF    FICTION,     LIGHT    LITERATURE. 


LIGHT    LITERATURE. 

In  Cloth  and  Paper  Covers.        Crown  8vo. 


RECOLLECTIONS    OF    A    ROYAL     PARISH.       Crathie 

and  Its  Neighbourhood.     By  PATRICIA  LINDSAY.     Illustrations. 

GOLDEN  STRINGS.  A  Day  Book  for  Busy  Men  and  Women. 
Arranged  by  SUSAN,  COUNTESS  OF  MALMESBURY,  and  Miss  VIOLET 
BROOKE  HUNT. 

THE  TRUTH  AND  ERROR  OF  CHRISTIAN 
SCIENCE.  By  Miss  M.  CARTA  STLRGE,  Natural  Science  Tripos, 
Cambridge.  With  a  Preface  by  the  Rev.  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND,  M.A., 
Canon  of  St.  Paul's. 

CUCHULAIN   OF   MUIRTHEMNE.     The  Story  of  the  Man 

of  the  Red  Branch  of  Ulster.     Arranged  and  put  into  English  by  LADY 
GREGORY.    With  a  Preface  by  W.  B.  YEATS. 

THE     VOYAGE     OF     ITHOBAL.       An  Epic  Poem.       By 

Sir  EDWIN  ARNOLD,  Author  of  "  The  Light  of  the  World,"  &c. 
".     .     .     A  masterly  piece  of  work." — Glasgow  Herald. 

A    SEA    KING'S     MIDSHIPMAN.      An  Episode  in  the  Life 

of  the  famous  Lord  Cochrane  (afterwards  Lord   Dundonald).     By  A.  LEE 
KNIGHT.     With  12  Illustrations  by  MONRO  S.  ORR. 
"  ....     A  spirited  romance." — Scotsman. 

A    CENTURY    OF    OUR    SEA    STORY.        By  WALTER 

JEFFERY,  Author  of  "  The  King's  Yard,"  &c. 
"     .     .     .     is  sure  to  be  warmly  welcomed  by  old  and  young." — Daily  Xeu-s. 

SIDE-LIGHTS    ON     THE     MARCH.      By  H.  F.  MACKERN. 

With  upwards  of  sixty  Half-tone  Illustrations  from  Snapshots  taken  during 
the  War  in  South  Africa. 
"  We  have  nothing  but  praise  for  Mr.  Mackern's  work." — Athentrum. 

THE    LIFE    OF    PARIS.      By  RICHARD  WHITEING.     Author 

of  "  No.  5,  John  Street,"  &c. 

"...     Brilliant  is  essentially  the  term  by  which  the  reader  will  be  disposed  to 
characterise  this  volume."—  Daily  News. 

LEADING  POINTS  IN   SOUTH   AFRICAN    HISTORY. 

From  1486  to   3Oth    March,    1900.      Chronologically  arranged,   with  a  full 
Clas-ified  Date-Index  of  Events.     By  EDWIN  A.  PRATT. 
"...     permanently  valuable  to  students  of  the  South  African  question." 

— The  Times. 

THE      NAVAL      PIONEERS      OF      AUSTRALIA.        By 

Louis  BECKE  and  WALTER  JEFFERY.     Illustrations. 
"  Full  of  interesting  and  instructive  matter." — The  Field. 

THE  SOUTH  AFRICAN  WAR,  1899-1900.  A  Military 
Retrospect  up  to  the  Relief  of  Ladysmith.  By  Major  S.  L.  NORRIS,  Royal 
Engineers,  With  Maps. 


MURRAY'S     IMPERIAL    LIBRARY. 


FICTION,    LIGHT    LITERATURE,    &c. 

SMALLER   SERIES. 
In   Cloth   and   Paper   Covers.      Crown    Svo. 

BERT   EDWARDS  :   Golf  Caddie.     By  HORACE  HUTCHINSON. 
THE    INN    OF    THE    SILVER    MOON.     By   HERMAN   K. 

VlELE. 

THE     DREAM     AND     THE     MAN.      By     Mrs.     BAILLIE 

REYNOLDS  (G.  M.  ROBINS). 
"A  strong,  convincing,  original  novel." — The  Outlook. 

ANTONIA.     A  Story  of  the   Early  Settlements  on  the   Hudson 

River.    By  JESSIE  VAN  ZILE  BELDEN. 
"  A  fine  and  bracing  Story." — Nottingham  Guardian. 

THE     GATHERING    OF    BROTHER     HILARIUS. 

A  Romance  ot  the  Time  of  the  Great  Pestilence  in  the  I4th  Century.     By 
MICHAEL  FAIRLESS. 

".     .     .     .     an  idyll  in  prose     .     .     .     a  fascinating  piece  of  Medieval  romance." 

— The  Times. 

AN     EPISODE     ON    A     DESERT     ISLAND.       By    the 

AUTHOR  OF   "Miss  MOLLY." 
".     .     .     .     clever  and  original." — The  Times. 

MONSIEUR   BEAUCAIRE.     By  BOOTH  TARKINGTON.     With 

Illustrations  and  Typographical  Ornaments. 

"  Inside  and  outside,  from  cover  to  cover,  '  Monsieur  Beancaire  '  is  a  charming 
surprise." — Pilot. 

MRS.     GREEN.      By  EVELYNE  ELSIE  RYND 

"  It  is  a  delightful  experience  for  the  critic  when  he  finds  a  book  which  he  can 
thoroughly  and  heartily  praise.  ...  I  have  found  no  book  on  fiction  nearly  so 
good  and  promising  .  .  .  there  are  not  many  wittier  or  kindlier  scribes  at  work 
among  us." — British  Weekly. 

THE    COMPLEAT     BACHELOR.      By  OLIVER  ONIONS. 

"One  of  the  brightest,  cheeriest,  and  jolliest  books  written  for  a  long  time 

past This  is  a  book  you  should  beg,  borrow,  or — get  out  of  the 

circulating  library.     Don't  miss  it." — Illustrated  Mail. 

A    GIFT    FROM    THE    GRAVE.      By  EDITH  WHARTON 

"...     A  writer  of  exceptional  delicacy  and  power." — The  Times. 

MONICA  GREY.    By  the  Honourable  LADY  HELY-HUTCHINSON. 

"...  Written  with  great  delicacy  and  tenderness,  and  is  most  interesting."— 
Literary  World. 


LONDON:   JOHN   MURRAY,  ALBEMARLE  STREET,  W, 


